Enough Said!!!!

Enough Said.

Romantic comedy's tend to target the younger teenage age range to mid/ late twenty's but they never cover any other ages. Well, Enough Said switches things up and is a romantic comedy for the older generation, in particular here people who have had children, divorced and are not really looking for love.

Showing the lives of Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) a divorcee masseuse who travels around to massage various clients she lives a normal life with her teenage daughter Chloe (Tavi Gevinson) with who she doesn't particularly get along with and isn't looking for love. Albert (James Gandolfini) is also a divorcee video archiver who lives on his own and has regular visits from his teenage daughter Ellen (Tracey Fairaway). 

Both of them aren't really looking for love and don't really see a reason to, as Eva attends a party with her close friend Sarah (Toni Collette) a chance meeting happens and she is introduced to Albert. As the two give each other a sly dig saying their is no-one around they find hot at the party the two leave the party and go their seperate ways. Soon enough the two start meeting up for dates and start to get along really well and they start a kind of unofficial relationship. 

Carrying on with her job Eva contacts a client she met a the party Marianne (Catherine Keener) who is a new age kind of person who earns her living writing poetry. As the two become friends and go out for meals Marianne can talk about nothing else but her ex husband with whom she had a daughter and explain in detail all his faults and misgivings. As Eva gets more close to Albert and strikes up a great friendship with Marianne she soon enough finds out that Albert is Mariannes ex husband, then she starts to see Albert differently but how differently?

I have to say I found this film very heart warming as it touches upon the more older spectrum of 50+ single divorcees and what they go through with relationships. Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are great as Albert and Eva as they both portray two totally different people but who are going through the same situations. The little in jokes really make you feel they know each other well, Albert's dodgy nasal whistle and how he can't whisper and Eva's compulsion to knit all the time. It shows that these are things older viewers can relate to and it makes you warm towards the characters. Bringing in their children also adds another dimension and how older parents tackle the "sex" talk and the kids going off to college it's current.

Throughout the film they never say that they're boyfriend and girlfriend, they are mature adults and never need to use that social tag. Introduced as "my good friend...." it keeps it current again as they are older adults and don't need that social tag. A truly heart warming, funny, life affirming film that has you smiling throughout.

9/10.

What Maisie Knew!!!!

What Maisie Knew.

A film that really impressed me and also hit me emotionally is 'What Maisie Knew', set in New York we first see Maisie's (Onata Aprile) parents arguing over who has custody over their daughter. As Susanna (Jullieanne Moore) and Beale (Steve Coogan) argue over their daughter Maisie just gets on with things, answering the door to the pizza man and paying him you can tell she's become an independent girl. 

As Susanna hangs out with her rock band friends and records new music in the studio Maisie is left again to her own devices and soon enough a nanny arrives, Margo (Joanna Vanderham) is blonde and beautiful and the perfect companion for Maisie. Being picked up and carted backwards and forwards to her mum and dad's houses Maisie just takes it all in and acts like a child. As the two parents still fight over their daughter they soon enough get married to help stabilise their appeal for full custody of Maisie. 

With Susanna now married to Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard) and Beale married to nanny Margo the two couples have everything they could want. With Susanna going away on tour and Beale flying back and forth between New York and London both parents never truly connect with their daughter who they fought so much for. Soon enough Maisie and Lincoln strike up a relationship and the pair start to enjoy themselves despite the drama happening between his new wife and Maisie's father. 

As she soon enough is let down by both her parents and both their marriages have broken down Maisie is left stranded and it is the parents ex partners who have to pick her back up. As Margo takes her off to a remote destination she finally has the stability that she has always needed, Lincoln soon arrives and starts up a relationship with Margo. As the three come together to form a little family it shows at how happy Maisie can be when she has that loving, caring, stable life. 

The film has a great narrative that runs through it, from the chopping and changing of her parents love lives it's surprising that true happiness comes from two non paternal adults. Little scenes that show how much both parents don't know their daughter are also shown, Beale getting Margo to decorate Maisie's room shows he doesn't know his own daughter. Susanna walking in on Margo helping Maisie pick out what clothes to wear and just saying "put that on come on we have to go" shows she spends no time with her daughter or even care. 

Harsh scene's where Susanna says to her own daughter "I married Lincoln for you" shows she will do anything to gain custody of her daughter which includes marrying someone Maisie has never met or knows. At times it is heart breaking to see Maisie go through so much in her life because of her parents, it makes you think that some children will go through this in their life which is quite sad.

For a film I thought I would not like I really was sucked into the film and felt every little thing that Maisie went through, Onata Aprile has to be the cutest little girl I've seen on screen in recent years, I really hope she carries on with acting and becomes the next Drew Barrymore as she plays Maisie flawlessly and really brings joy, sadness and laughter to the screen with ease. A great emotional film for a topic that has become so common nowadays.

9/10.