After his directorial debut in "You Can Count on Me", the immensely talented Kenneth Lonergan's new film was expected eagerly. The director, who has contributed to the theater with plays of the caliber of "This is Our Youth", "Lobby Hero", "The Waverly Gallery", and others seen in the New York stage. Now, after a long period in the shelves, his "Margaret" was released last year. Not having seen it when it was commercially released, we were given the DVD version as a present. "Margaret" had problems, yet the final version with a running time of 150 minutes, seems much longer the way it unfolds on the screen.

The basic premise is a careless young woman, Lisa, whose actions distract a bus driver in such a way, he provokes a fatal accident in which one innocent woman on her way home from shopping, is hit by the vehicle right in front of her eyes. Running to help the victim, Lisa experiences death as the woman dies in her arms. Lisa is distraught by what she witnessed, contributing to her own state of turmoil. She is a girl of privilege living in Manhattan with her divorced mother and young brother. She attends a good school, and by all reasons, should have been a happy girl until this tragedy alters her life and her perception of it.

At heart, there are a lot of thoughts behind Mr. Lonergan's screenplay. First and foremost is Lisa's own awakening to life after seeing the older woman die and not reporting to the police what really caused the accident. In her quest of righting a wrong, Lisa goes after the victim's only living relative who could not have cared more about what happened in New York. With the help of the dead woman's best friend, Lisa decides to continue fighting for what she feels was wrong. As a lawyer is brought to the fight the case, money from the bus company is mentioned, thus bringing to the picture the cousin and her family in Arizona who did not care about the accident, but now with the promise of riches, she loved and cared deeply for her late cousin.

There is also a problem in the relationship of Lisa and her actress mom. Lisa is critical of a mother she perceives as shallow. Lisa was ambivalent about her sexual life, but suddenly she decides to lose her virginity with a boy who decides to be the one doing the honor as a badge of merit. Not content with that Lisa hits on a teacher who should have known better, but goes against his better judgment to bed his student.

The acting, for the most part, is first rate. Anna Paquin is splendid as Lisa. We have seen Ms. Paquin in the New York stage and she keeps getting better and better all the time. Her bratty Lisa transforms herself in a young woman with a cause in her heart. J. Smith-Cameron, who is Mrs. Lonergan in real life, has been doing outstanding work in whatever play, she is asked to perform. As Lisa's mother, she is perfect in her approach. There are small appearances of people like Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Jeannie Berlin, Allison Janney, Kieran Culkin, among others. Mark Ruffalo, who shined in Mr. Lonergan's debut film, has nothing to do in this one. A miscast Jean Reno comes out as a racist and a bigot.

One can imagine that given the right atmosphere Kenneth Lonergan would have come out with a winning film. "Margaret" has brilliant moments, as well as others that detract from being a perfect film.

Margaret is a drama that stars Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Kieran Culkin, Olivia Thirlby, and Rosemarie DeWitt.The film centers on a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman's life. In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step. Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself. She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth: that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world. It was written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.

A surfeit of ideas contributes to Margaret's excessive run time, but Anna Paquin does a admirable job of guiding viewers through emotional hell.Also,it is ambitious, affecting, unwieldy and haunting, it's an eccentric, densely atmospheric, morally hyper-aware masterpiece as an engrossing character study with so much insight into human frailty that it's actually quite disturbing. Lonergan portrays the main character's distress with an honesty and wide enough context that it can be extrapolated to the entirety of post-9/11 New York City.A bit of a home- video miracle: a film that barely saw the light of day, on a Blu-ray that almost didn't happen, with an extended cut that fans thought they'd never see.

Manhattan teen Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) is a slacker carefree student in Aaron Caije (Matt Damon)'s math class. She tries to ask bus driver Gerald Maretti (Mark Ruffalo) about his cowboy hat. He loses concentration and runs over Monica Patterson. She feels responsible and lies about the traffic light to the police trying to clear the bus driver. Her single mother Joan is a Broadway actress with an admirer in Ramon (Jean Reno). Lisa starts doing drugs, loses her virginity to drug dealer Paul (Kieran Culkin) and fighting with her mother. She contacts Monica's cousin Abigail who is frustrated with the notoriety and sends her to Monica's best friend Emily Morrison. After Gerald's stridden denial, Lisa goes to the police to recant her answers.

Anna Paquin's performance is brilliant. Her character goes through so much. The story does meander. There is probably way too many characters and too many plot lines. There is no need for two teachers to be highlighted. Damon and Matthew Broderick should have their characters combined. The mother's story with Ramon should probably be eliminated. The movie is two and a half hour long. It's over-extended. I'm sure a shorter tighter cut would be better.