Friday, May 7, 2010
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Friday, May 7, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Please Give
For These New Yorkers, Death
Is A Gift That Keeps On Giving
Catherine Keener as Kate and Oliver Platt as Alex in Nicole Holofcener's "Please
Give", which opened today in
San Francisco.
Sony Pictures Classics
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Friday, May 7, 2010
In Nicole Holofcener's brilliant "Please Give", which opened in San Francisco
today while continuing in New York and Los Angeles, Catherine Keener and Oliver
Platt are Kate and Alex, a Manhattan married couple with a treasure trove of
possessions left by the dead. The spouses make a business in this morbid
enterprise. Their daughter (Sarah Steele) is a rude, boorish teenager who
scoffs at her mother's "bleeding heart" gestures to people on the city streets.
Their neighborhood dermatologist (Amanda Peet) wears a tan that's exaggerated.
The tan itself is a character, a statement about health and the routine
overindulgence of doing things one thinks are revitalizing yet are anything but.
Miss Holofcener sets up other interesting machinations in this satire, which
keeps its audience entertained and off-balance. Death is always an awkward
subject to play with on the big screen. In serious films it can be
mawkish. In comedies it can be trivial and thereby
offensive. In "Please Give" death is
portrayed with honesty and a lack of pretension right from the start. The
film's priceless opening credits are set to a song many will pay little
attention to because of what they see. The song is an ironic melody,
trumpeting the comedy, tragedy (and art) of death.
Viewed from any angle "Please Give" is a clear, adult depiction of death as a
life. The film celebrates the grimy and ethical conundrums of death
without moralizing or meditating. Unsentimental and abrasive, the
razor-sharp writing by Miss Holofcener ("Lovely And Amazing",
"Friends With Money") and the actors carry the day,
especially Miss Keener, one of America's best. She's always on, and on
target -- film in, film out, good film or bad. The subtlety, intelligence
and precision of her work as Kate augments the character, a much smarter and
isolated being than we perhaps realize. There's never a false moment from
Miss Keener or Miss Holofcener, who directs one of her best films.
"Please Give" gives generously, leaving us plenty to think about. You feel
uncomfortable watching. You shake your head at the contradictions and
venalities. You laugh with trepidation. You appreciate the denizens
of New York City and their unvarnished commentary. And you know you
haven't been cheated for a single second.
With: Ann Guilbert, Lois Smith, Rebecca Hall, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Elize Ivy,
Elizabeth Keener, Josh Pais.
"Please Give" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for
language, some sexual content and nudity. The film's running time is one hour and
30 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2010. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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