PLEASE GIVE

As an exercise in minimalist story-telling Please Give can frustrate in its lack of dynamism and impress in its focus in equal measure. Director Nicole Holofcener has made her name by constructing female-centric, stripped down films – being slight on plot allows a focus on character that a lot of movies simply cannot offer. Please Give is a paradigm example of this shift away from a focus on the plot and towards the characters. If it’s about anything, it is about the way that these individuals from different circumstances bump heads, fall out and learn to forgive each other. I understand that for some this may not sound overly appealing. This is not a film designed to please hyperactive or impatient cinema-goers who enjoy a complex plot. Those who are willing to give this film a chance, however, will discover an endearingly intelligent character piece.

Even without a plot to speak of, there must still be a framework or a structure in which these characters operate. Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are a married couple who earn their living selling on furniture that they buy from estate sales. They seek to expand their New York living space by purchasing the apartment adjacent to theirs. Unfortunately for them, they can’t knock down the walls and create an extension until its current occupant, the elderly and cantankerous Andra (Ann Guilbert) passes on. Andra has two granddaughters who often frequent the apartment – these two women could not be any more different from each other. Rebecca (played by Rebbeca Hall) shoulders dutifully most of the care-responsibilities, whilst Mary is too self-obsessed and too heart-broken to show anything but distain for their Grandma’s suffering. The drama revolves mostly around the collision of these two families and the individuals within them with their own unique neuroses.

The audience is left to watch these characters bound blindly over their psychological pitfalls and attempt to come to terms with their position in the world. The film revolves around an overwhelming sense of white liberal guilt - some characters give too much of themselves to others, whilst others take too much with little to offer in return. This inbalance is the motivation behind almost every act and is the only real driving force that moves the story forwards. These characters must learn to accept their role in life and attempt to establish a happy equilibrium in which their relationship with the world at large is one of symbiosis rather than being parasitic in nature. Whilst it’s clear almost from the get-go that Holofcener has an ear for witty, yet realistic dialogue, it’s also clear that she’s not afraid to let things get downright awkward. See the scene where Rebecca is asked out by the grandson of her grandma’s friend. Or the excruciating scene where Mary asks Kate to explain to Andra what she plans to do with her apartment once she has passed on.

Because this film is character-centric and its characters have delightful moments of wit and because of its New York setting, some critics have been quick to compare Please Give to the works of Woody Allen. Whilst there are some clear points of comparison – Holofcener certainly explores her characters neuroses with the same degree of obsession that Allen often adopts – I don’t think the correlation is completely on the money. Holofcener’s characters have a sense of realism that often lacks from Allen’s verbose-caricatures. Whilst Allen’s dialogue often provokes uncontrollable laughter, the funniest moments in Please Give will evoke at most a titter. This should not necessarily count against the film, which seems rooted in a reality that Allen’s films often never quite manage to capture. By dialling back the comedic elements and not going for simple laughs, the film appears at once much more empathetic and touching. These are recognisable character archetypes dealing with recognisable character defects, be it middle-class liberal guilt, lust or jealousy.

Importantly, there’s not a bad performance in the film. You can’t help but feel that the game here is so loosely constructed and held together that if just one player were to drop the ball, the whole thing would fall apart. The two stand-out performances come from Holofcener mainstay Catherine Keener and relative newcomer Rebecca Hall. Keener, at this stage has the market in respect of middle-aged neurotic but somehow endearing women pretty much pinned down. It’s an emotionally nuanced performance; she plays Kate as if she is both entirely sure of herself and contradictorily completely out of place in the hustle and bustle of modern life. Rebecca Hall who has made a name for herself in The Town and (speaking of Woody Allen) 2008’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona re-asserts herself as one of cinema’s brightest up and coming actresses. It’s a performance of quiet desperation that is touching without ever becoming cloying. She is, perhaps, the beating heart of the film – all these characters are either looking to give something back to the world or to have somebody give something back to them and nobody typifies this dynamic better than Hall’s tired, emotionally-ensconced Rebecca.