Spin

Archived: 25 Jan 2007 | Filed In Magazines & Newspapers

By Paul Zimmerman

Blue Crush
Agnes Bruckner drives away with a stunning coming-of-age drama Blue Car.

There isn't much about up-and-comer Agnes Bruckner that a Hollywood agent would want to change--except maybe her name. "Oh No!" blushes the 17-year-old actress. "Everyone loves 'Agnes'. It's not a usual name." But then there isn't much that usual about her, if her haunting turn in Blue Car is any indication. In writer/director Karen Moncrieff's dark look at adolescence, Bruckner plays Meg, a troubled teen disappointed with her broken family who finds solace in poetry writing and is befriended and encouraged by her high school English teacher (David Stratharin) only to have him turn on her as well. With a quite assurance and stoic stare, Bruckner carried the downbeat but ultimately poignant film; she also played a crucial role keeping spirits high on the moody drama's set. "We joked around a lot," she says. "Besides, my best take is usually the first or second." With just one exquisite performance, Bruckner moves closer on the career spectrum to achieving her professed goal of working with Angelina Jolie-and further her acting debut, at age 11, in a recurring role on TV's The Bold and the Beautiful. Not that her stint on the soap opera was completely without merit: "Now," she says, "I can memorize all my lines in about five minutes."

Transcribed by Mycah