by MATTHEW HAYS

Part bizarre road movie, part ode to grief, part fantasy, Lynne Ramsay's latest feature, Morvern Callar, had many viewers - myself included - transfixed at last fall's Toronto International Film Festival. The film's titular character, played with typical brilliance by Samantha Morton, suffers a trauma in the opening moments. The remainder of the film, essentially, is a careful, detailed depiction of her emotional fallout.

Ramsay is a remarkably easygoing lass. She leans back in her chair in a chi-chi Toronto hotel, not quite looking like she fits in with all the glam types and army of publicists moving about. Salma Hayek walks by. Then Matt Dillon swaggers through the room. Ramsay's more interested in hearing about Mike Leigh, the grand master of Brit cinema, who's been praising her as one of the bright lights in U.K.'s national movie biz. When I spoke with him earlier in the festival, he was raving about Ramsay; understandably, she shoots me a massive smile as I report this back to her. "He's been so supportive of my work," she says, "which is so flattering. England's film community is so small. We actually bump into each other quite frequently."

Moving and mourning

Those titillated by Ramsay's first feature, Ratcatcher (1999), may be surprised by Morvern Callar. The film is deceptively simple, featuring a largely interior, minimalist performance by Morton, as she jaunts through Spain with a buddy in an effort to leave all that working-class British baggage behind and digest her boyfriend's death. The opening hook is that her boyfriend suicides, but leaves her his novel to sell. The novel, as it turns out, is brilliant, and catches the interest of some highfalutin publishers. In a funny and odd twist, Morvern intends to take credit for it herself. As Callar, Morton delivers a performance so admirably ambiguous and complex, it's the kind of film that will end up highlighting any retrospective of the actor's work in umpteen years time.

"I had been looking around for a character to build a film upon," Ramsay recalls. "I wanted someone who you weren't sure you actually liked. Someone with a real edge to her. Someone showed me Alan Warner's book and I read it and thought it was perfect."

And Ramsay says the casting call was entirely instinctual. "When I met Sam I could tell she was capable of just about anything. She almost comes from another planet, she's so talented. She's very intuitive, she doesn't sit around worrying about motivation and such. Which is very much the way I work."

Drawing on Repulsion

Ramsay draws inspiration from various sources; though a film-school grad, she doesn't describe herself as a film buff. "I don't really have any models," she says, almost apologizing. "I look at pictures, photographs, draw on bits of writing. I certainly thought about Repulsion while I was making this.

"I confess I really didn't know that much about film when I got to film school. I knew I liked Imitation of Life, as my mother loved melodramas. But I didn't know who Douglas Sirk was. I loved Bette Davis movies too. I also love Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. That movie is a miracle."

Ramsay says she gained a great deal at England's National Film and Television School, where she graduated in '95. "I worked mainly as a camerawoman. You learn fast when you're in a hardcore competitive environment like that. I was able to experiment and try things out, which was very satisfying." Ramsay's graduation project, Small Deaths, won the Jury Prize at Cannes that year - not a bad opener for a young film grad.

For Ramsay, the key is focusing on the unexpected. "Some people like going to see films where they know exactly what's going to happen. But I'd rather people have their judgements challenged. To have something happen that's really unexpected. I guess my films aren't for everyone. I'm not out to do something that will appeal to a perceived market." :

Morvern Callar opens Friday, March 14

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