Kenneth Lonergan directs Anna Paquin, J. Smith-Cameron and Jean Reno in this drama about New York girl dealing and not dealing with her involvement in a fatal accident. 

An involving and satisfyingly expansive drama is undone slightly by its miniseries length. Paquin is excellent as the troubled kid entering the world of adulthood through a baptism of compromise and surface level morality, and the ensemble around her is a truly impressive roster of talent. Too tighten up the focus or cutaway at the subplots would lose a lot of what makes Margaret distinctive, yet Lonergan’s far more efficient follow up (Manchester By the Sea) explores the sames themes of fate, responsibility and maturity with more certainty and more entertainingly.

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