Margo
Movies like “Margo” are tough for a filmmaker with limited means, because you have to figure out what will be happening with your protagonist for 100 minutes that will hold a viewer’s interest. This is where the creativity of storytelling comes into play, and Matthew Packman’s film has some interesting ideas as we follow his protagonist, Libby (Lauren Schaubert), as she navigates through an apocalyptic landscape, first with her boyfriend (Brady Suedmeyer), then by herself when he is killed by hunters they stumble upon. She must make due with what she can find, and when that includes a feral young woman (Margo, played by Abbey Hickey), that means a lot of uncertainty as to what will happen.
A film like this relies heavily on how well its star can hold the screen on their own, and while Schaubert is no Tom Hanks (“Cast Away”) or Matt Damon (“The Martian”), she’s more than capable in that regards, and gets to the pained heart of the character. At first, her boyfriend is in the mix, but it’s not long before their encounter with hunters, which leads to his death. Afterwards, she is largely on her own, and she has a strong presence as she tries to survive in the world without him (though the memories of him trigger hallucinations wherein he tries to knock some sense into her). Probably the most powerful moment is when she is listening to her mp3 player, and remembering them making love. There’s something remarkably raw and powerful about Schaubert’s acting in that moment that puts it with some of the most memorable moments I’ve seen this year in movies. (The song soundtrack is effective in other moments, as well, and makes this film stand out more than a standard score would have.) We understand why she tries to befriend the woman, but also would like her to heed the warnings she gets from her boyfriend, warnings she should have listened to more attentively. Admittedly, it’s easy for ones focus to wander as the film goes on, because there’s not a lot of interest that occurs beyond Libby’s psychological survival, but there’s enough there that gives us incentive to follow Libby all the way to the end of the story that Packman has devised for her.
