Blue Car (2002)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Karen Moncrieff

Writer (WGA):

Karen Moncrieff (written by)

Release Date:

2 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Ready or not... the future comes just the same.

Plot:

A troubled young woman is encouraged by a teacher to enter a poetry contest.

Plot Keywords:

Poetry | Contest | Tie | Church | School

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

David Strathairn	...	Auster
Agnes Bruckner	...	Megan Denning (Meg)
Margaret Colin	...	Diane
Frances Fisher	...	Delia
A.J. Buckley	...	Pat
Regan Arnold	...	Lily
Sarah Buehler	...	Georgia
Dustin Sterling	...	Rob
Michael Joseph Thomas Ward	...	Dad (as Mike Ward)
Wayne Armstrong	...	Don
Aftab Pureval	...	Boy in Class
Wendy Lardin	...	Georgia's Mom
Jenn O'nofrio	...	Blonde Girl
Greg Miller	...	Priest
Michael Raysses	...	Mr. Kastran

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

96 min | Canada:88 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Australia:MA | Germany:12 | New Zealand:M | UK:15 | USA:R | Italy:T | Canada:A (Ontario) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Colonel White High School - 501 Niagara Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, USA

Company:

Peer Oppenheimer Production Inc.

Trivia:

This film was edited on an Apple Macintosh Computer with "Final Cut Pro" and "Cinema Tools" software.

Goofs:

Continuity: The application form that Meg fills out for the poetry contest says her poem is entitled "Blue Car", although at that point she has not yet written the poem or given it a title.

Quotes:

[after looking over her poem]
Auster: Okay... you tell me.
Meg: I don't know.
Auster: Why not? Are you afraid I'm going to tell you your work stinks?
Meg: Does it?
Auster: What do you think?
Meg: Probably. I don't know.
Auster: Come back when you do.
[rises, starts to leave]
Meg: It doesn't stink. There's a line that I like.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 2004 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Harvest Moon

Given its resources, an excellent film

"Blue Car" looks long and hard at a middle class teen female poetry student (Bruckner) who struggles with unhappy circumstances, the vicissitudes of her age, and discovers the yin-yang of human nature too often leans toward the negative. The young protag, well represented by Bruckner, finds herself with inadequate coping skills as she discovers the limits of dependability of the only person on whom she can depend - herself. A very substantial drama given it's indie-ness, writer/director Moncrieff conjures convincing performances and delivers some important subliminal messages about the pitfalls and foibles of life. Good stuff for what it is. Recommended for more mature realists. (B+)