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Picture
In New York City, a husband and wife clash with the granddaughters
​of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.
DRAMA

Please Give (2010)

Written and Directed by Nicole Holofcener

Starring Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Ann Guilbert,
Rebecca Hall, Amanda Peet, Elizabeth Keener, Sarah Steele

Austin Johnson
July 23, 2020
8/10
I recently reviewed Lovely & Amazing and Friends with Money, which were both written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, who has mastered the art of normalcy through everyday kinds of people. I really enjoyed those first two and I’m glad I can say that I equally enjoyed Please Give. It came out in early 2010, but didn’t make nearly as much money in theaters as Holofcener’s prior film Friends with Money. I think it’s strictly because of the cast, but everyone plays their part really well which leads me to believe that I’ll probably like anything Holofcener does because I like her writing. 

Kate and Alex are a married couple who own a used furniture store and live in New York City with their teenage daughter, Abby. They live in a nice apartment and decide to go ahead and buy the apartment next to them which is being lived in by an elderly woman named Andra. Kate and Alex won’t get the actual space until Andra passes away which could be anytime. Andra’s granddaughters, Rebecca and Mary are constantly over to help out even though they know that the neighbors plan on remodeling the entire apartment. Kate deals with the guilt of selling furniture for profit because the prior owners usually have no idea what the stuff is worth. She tries to volunteer and give to the homeless, but really she should just be looking inward. Alex has his own troubles, but he isn’t as vocal about them which leads to a lack of communication among the family. 

Gosh, Nicole Holofcener really knows how to take an authentic setting and fill it with real life characters that have various problems that are sometimes relatable and sometimes petty as hell. Catherine Keener is annoyingly good as Kate and Oliver Platt provides a very subtle performance as Alex. I also found Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet to be pretty tough to look away from as Rebecca and Mary. Please Give is the last film that Ann Guilbert appeared in before passing away in 2016, which added poignancy seeing that her character is on the verge of dying the entire film. Nicole Holofcener’s style has an interesting tempo to it, but I think it’s really rewarding to watch her stories unfold organically.

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  • Home
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