#nicoleholofcener

[changoblanco]

This kind of thing always tickles me. Honored to be associated. @anecrabtree @criterioncollection #once #everyrimeweworktogether #nicoleholofcener #pleasegive #criterionchannel #productiondesign #resume #ificouldtellmyyoungerself https://www.instagram.com/p/B_z-eraJDRT/?igshid=1hhir4q1xt2fb

[twotrey23]

#NicoleHolofcener & #JeffWhitty , #BestScreenplay winners for #CanYouEverForgiveMe . @filmindependent #SpiritAwards #FilmIndependent #FilmIndependentSpiritAwards #film #cinema #movies #movie #films #indie #independent #awardseason #awardsseason #awards #filmmaker #filmmaking #screenwriting #writer #filmmakers (at Film Independent Spirit Awards 2019) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPngYlAQfR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1lwsqqmny7olg

[kevinscanlon]

Congrats to Nicole Holofcener who, with Jeff Whitty, won a WGA Award for adapted screenplay for Can You Ever Forgive Me? #nicoleholofcener #canyouforgiveme #wga #writersguildawards #writersguild #adaptedscreenplay #foxsearchlight #leeisrael https://www.instagram.com/p/BuCEn3igMCL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1r4zql5ai3t4g

[theenthusiasticcinephile]

Enough Said

1 hour 33 minutes

Rated PG-13 (Sexual Content, Some Thematic Material and Brief Language)

Directed by Nicole Holofcener

Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, and Ben Falcone

3 out of 4 stars

IN THEATERS NOW.

2013 has seemed like a really tragic year. I'm not talking about the government shutdown. I'm talking about the high number of celebrity deaths. Cory Monteith (drug overdose), The Famous Jett Jackson (one of my favorite shows as a child) star Lee Thompson Young (suicide), Roger Ebert (cancer), and, of course, James Gandolfini (heart attack). Even the recent Emmy Awards was a downer. They had an In Memoriam tribute along with four separate segments where Rob Reiner, Jane Lynch, Michael J. Fox, and Edie Falco commemorated one of the deceased of the year. Even one of the winners of the night, the writer of Homeland, had recently died and his Emmy was given posthumously to his wife! The one death that really hit us, however, was Gandolfini's in June. The guy was only 51, and what's equally tragic is that his 13 year old son found him dead. So heartbreaking. Tony Soprano will always be one of the most iconic screen characters.

One of Gandolfini's last roles is in Enough Said, Nicole Holofcener's sweet, charming little romance that every old person on the planet will eat up (I'm saying this, because half the theater I was in was packed with oldies). It's a little too talky for me and slightly less funny than the director's earlier work, but it still put a smile on my face, thanks to Gandolfini. This guy was renowned for his tough guy persona, but I always preferred him in gentler roles like in Where the Wild Things Are and the underrated indie Welcome to the Rileys. Here he's softer, friendlier, and ultimately more lovable than the archetypal gangster he'd usually play. The smily Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a Los Angeles masseuse/single mother who's upset that her daughter, Ellen (Tracey Fairaway), is about to head off to college. Eva spends her days carrying a massage table to people's homes and listening to them blab about their lives while she awkwardly rubs them. She's happy, but knows that she'll feel desperate and alone when her daughter leaves.

One night at a party she meets Albert (Gandolfini), an obese but charmingly baby-faced man who's also divorced and who also has a daughter who's heading off to college. The same night she also meets Marianne (Catherine Keener), a rich, glamorous poet who actually makes a ton of money writing poetry. She takes a liking to Eva and asks her to be her personal masseuse. Albert and her begin going on dates and he turns out to be a funny, charming character. He's pretty fat, Eva thinks, but she finds him sexy in a way. When she works with Marianne the poet begins to explain to her about her DREADFUL ex-husband and how he made her life a living hell. Eva soon finds out that her ex-husband is Albert! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! Now she doesn't know what to do. The more Marianne creates a bad perception of Albert the more confused Eva becomes. Does she truly like this guy or are Marianne's views against him a warning that he's not right for her?

Enough Said has a simple little setup that I really enjoyed watching. Holofcener is a pro at writing witty dialogue, like when Albert discusses how he likes to take the onions out when he eats guacamole and how Eva likes his "paddled" hands. Louis-Dreyfus and Gandolfini are a charming pair whose conversations feel real and unscripted. The movie isn't as quirky as Holofcener's previous film, Please Give, a New York fairy tale about six characters and their messy lives. I mean, the first scene in that movie is a montage of women getting mammograms. Enough Said is slower and chattier, but it works because of the leads and Gandolfini's sweet side. The little subplots that Holofcener creates in her movies never really get resolved. This is necessary, in a way, because stuff happens in our lives that we never work out. In the movie Eva starts to hang out more with her daughter's clingy best friend, Chloe (Tavi Gevinson). Ellen notices this, but we don't get a big scene of the girl yelling to her mother "You love her more than me!" Eva is simply doing this because she doesn't want to be alone. She knows it, but she doesn't need to explain it full on to the audience. In life we keep thoughts in our mind that we don't always need to spit out.

Holofcener's stories are a direct slice of life and its relationships. Enough Said is unfortunately tragic the way it shows the soft side of a man we'll never get to see again.