Thursday, February 24, 2011

Please Give

Kate is a ball of guilt. She feels guilty about her furniture business which she successfully runs with her husband where they buy their items from recently deceased people and resell them. She feels bad about their plans to buy an apartment from an elderly neighbor when she dies, so Kate befriends her and her two granddaughters to alleviate the guilt. She even feels bad enough for homeless people she encounters on the street that she gives them absurd amounts of cash. Please Give is a talky indie film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener and is one of those rare entries in its genre that works and does not come off as officious. I really liked the work of the actors, particularly Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt as the furniture dealing couple and Rebecca Hall as one of the granddaughters. Please Give offers us a humorous look at flawed characters we all should be able to identify with.