Margaret
A volatile Manhattan teenager turns guilt over a fatal bus accident into an obsessive search for accountability, disturbing everyone caught in its wake.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Mild
- anguished
- intimate
- abrasive
- serious film night
- new york cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Anna Paquin's lead performance and the film's ambitious, emotionally punishing portrait of New York while finding its abundance of ideas contributes to an excessive runtime.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Lisa's guilt over the fatal bus accident drives her pursuit of the victim's family, witnesses, police, and bus driver.
The film depicts New York as a post 9/11 urban environment marked by social disconnection, grief, and competing claims to truth.
Lisa's investigation continually widens into family, legal, police, school, and relationship conflicts across the film's 150-minute structure.
Lisa is simultaneously guilty, intrusive, emotionally reckless, and sincerely determined to challenge the official account of the accident.
Films like Margaret, and why
You Can Count on Me
shared urban character drama, moral ambiguity, emotional intensity, and richly observed New York setting
The Squid and the Whale
shared adolescent alienation, psychological volatility, and layered urban family relationships
Mystic River
shared morally unsettled drama, investigative momentum, and portrait of a traumatized city
Boyhood
shared sprawling coming of age perspective, metropolitan intimacy, and emotionally difficult family dynamics
Movie Details
- Director
- Kenneth Lonergan
- Release Date
- 2011-09-30
- Runtime
- 150 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (350)
Cast
- Anna Paquin
- J. Smith-Cameron
- Mark Ruffalo
- Jeannie Berlin
- Jean Reno
- Sarah Steele
- John Gallagher Jr.
- Cyrus Hernstadt
- Allison Janney
- Kieran Culkin
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Hulu
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Margaret about?
- A volatile Manhattan teenager turns guilt over a fatal bus accident into an obsessive search for accountability, disturbing everyone caught in its wake.
- What is Margaret like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Margaret as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Margaret violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Margaret as mild.
- What did critics think of Margaret?
- Critics broadly praised Anna Paquin's lead performance and the film's ambitious, emotionally punishing portrait of New York while finding its abundance of ideas contributes to an excessive runtime.
- Which films are like Margaret?
- Films with a similar feel include You Can Count on Me, The Squid and the Whale, Mystic River, and Boyhood.
- How long is Margaret?
- Margaret runs 150 minutes.
- Where can I watch Margaret?
- In United States, Margaret streams on Hulu.
