Karen Moncrieff's understated film, 'Blue Car', tells the story of a mildly disaffected teenager; as she drifts through the world, never quite belonging, I was reminded of 'Ghost World', although this movie lacks that film's more stylised feel. The story has one Hollywood moment (albeit in a muted form) when she reads a hastily written, highly personal poem in a public competition; in fact, the shards of poetry present in this film are good enough to bear the symbolic weight put upon them by the plot. Yet I was left with the feeling that this is somehow half a story, and that, by underplaying everything, the director can't do much more than tell us her lead character is sad - in 'Ghost World', the vaguely surreal backdrop provided some contrast that is lacking here. The performances aren't bad, however, and the soundtrack features some pretty but predictable folky-style songs.
Review of Blue Car
