Lovely & Amazing

Few directors have a firm grip on creating comic works which while making us laugh or smile, also move us deeply. Chaplin's genius was founded on this blend of emotions. When Time magazine's cover labeled Wood Allen "comic genius" it was this same principle they were commending, though his films over the past 20 years would largely disprove this assumption.

Nicole Holofcener's small output prevents making any kind of assumption as yet, but in "Lovely and Amazing" she displays remarkable ability in dealing with the pain people (mostly female) experience in grappling with the issue of self esteem. Throughout the movie and without any lapse, she reveals the comic side of human frailty. We laugh at the characters with compassion rather than derision. It's a feat of great skill and much promise.

Holofcener clearly works well with actors, Brenda Blethyn, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Emily Mortimer and Jake Gyllenhaal, all are spot on with their characters. She also elicits a lovely underplayed performance from inexperienced child actor Raven Goodwin.

Holofcener has produced a genuinely lovely film; one that portends amazing things yet to come.

Stanley Kubrick's line, to me, sums my impression of this movie up completely.

It was real, but it wasn't interesting.

In all fairness, all of the lead actresses in the movie engaged me at one point or another, at least briefly. But the integral thing about their characters was that they were shallow, and remained shallow at the end.

Which is real, there are certainly people in the world who are shallow and remain shallow.

But it isn't especially interesting.

Watchable and inoffensive but hardly likely to arouse intense debate about anything, really. The performances are neat and unshowy, with Catherine Keener reliable as ever as (another) wayward hard-ass, Mulroney playing the roguish fool and Jake Gyllenhaal practising for the role he plays in The Good Girl. But Brenda Blethyn's matriarch isn't given any real depth which has got to go down as a missed opportunity. And since the story is an irrelevance, there aren't enough revelations (in fact, none) amongst the introspective musings and general angst to set this apart from any other female-orientated slice-of-life indie. It all feels a bit like Soderbergh's Full Frontal, only less constipated.

When I first saw Walking and Talking, Nicole Holofcener's previous film, I didn't realize at first what a brilliant piece of work it was. My experience with Lovely and Amazing was exactly the same. It is only later that it becomes clear how expertly the relationships between the characters are illuminated and with what originality she has constructed a story. Lovely and Amazing is an examination of a family of women and their complex relationships with themselves and the men in their lives. The women in Lovely and Amazing are real people. They are frequently horrible to each other and sabotage themselves just like real women. They are also capable, like real women, of moments of intimacy and insight with each other.

I believe Nicole Holofcener is the most talented indie filmmaker out there at the moment. Walking and Talking is one of my all time favorite films, and Lovely and Amazing just confirmed her status in my eyes as an insightful storyteller. Audiences deserve more films that achieve this level of excellence, and I hope Nicole Holofcener has the chance to deliver them.

This charming film is centred on Jane Marks, a woman is about to undergo liposuction, and her three daughters. These are aspiring artist Michelle, whose husband isn't very supportive; Actress Elizabeth who is worried that she isn't sexy enough to get an important role; and eight year old Annie, an adopted African American girl who wants to fit in with her white family.

It might be said that this film doesn't have much of a plot; it is more of a snapshot of a family's life while the mother is in hospital. Each of the four main characters has their neuroses which lead them into various situations; in the case of Michelle and Elizabeth that means getting involved with other people; in Michelle's case somebody much too young for her. The film answers some of the questions raised but leaves others open. The cast does a really fine job making their characters feel real. There are plenty of funny moments, sometimes with a touch of danger such as when Annie floats face-down in the pool in a way that worries people who worries she has drowned... something I recall doing when about that age! Overall I'd say that I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected and would recommend it to anybody wanting a good female led drama with touches of comedy.