As much as I acknowledge and value my own feminine side, there are certain realms where I simply cannot tread, not in this incarnation as a man; one is labor and delivery, and the other is Sex and the City.
That being said, and with all respect for the dark and unfathomable bonding that will coalesce around Mr. Big et. al. this opening weekend, I would like to offer an alternative route, one that I can go there with you on: Please Give.
My intention here is not to review the film, beautifully written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, as I’m afraid it would be too tempting to give things away in an effort to entice you to it. Rather I just want to sing its praises at the soul level. In short, I LOVE THIS MOVIE, it’s the best movie I’ve seen all year, maybe even in years.
As Andy said, when we were talking about the movie (and we talked about it a lot, for a couple of days after we saw it), “It felt like maybe they knew me, like—Had they been talking with me?” The themes of wanting to give, of parenting, of love, of compassion and authenticity all unfold in Please Give in the most natural, believable and yet amazingly compelling manner.
Nothing is simply wrapped up; nothing is obvious in this film. I really think, in an Amazon sort of logic, that if you like this blog, you’ll also like Please Give.
My teenage sons liked it as well, and they agreed that the performances were great. At dinner afterward we talked about their feelings about the characters, what was funny to them, what they liked and why they liked this one and that one in the film (conversation that isn’t about who gets control of the X-Box next is already a huge blessing).
Please Give is a true independent movie in spirit—sort of like a blog that just puts it all out there and inadvertently ends up hitting one out of the park; it’s like a great deceptively simple French film from the seventies where you fall in love with all the characters and feel more alive for having seen it.
My fantasy is that this little blog space might serve as a sort of impromptu film group discussion about Please Give where, if anyone ends up seeing the film (or has already seen it), they might post a comment and maybe spark some discourse. As I said, I choose to give nothing away, so I will not raise the questions that might compromise the plot, but you guys can in the comment boxes. I’m much less interested in my take on this picture than on your take.
Either way, Please Give is a soul work, and thus consistent with our great collective need to bring soul back into the world, one film, one blog post, one parenting moment, one friendship moment at a time—toward greater communing in this eternal moment, with all our eternal selves, ancestors and children.
Let me know what you think; better yet, let me know what you feel (and enjoy Sex and the City without me, I’ll be doing some manly things instead).
Namaste, Bruce
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HI. I loved your posts yesterday in motherese. I also listened to your responses to mine. I loved the munching on communion wafer story and the poet quote. I will go see this movie. I like where you’re coming from. I still find your perspective surprising, primarily because I have felt like a lone voice sounding out on how sacred a journey it is to be a parent.
Thank you for writing. Keep writing. Kathleen
Perhaps the point of our writing on this, of the unconscious whisperings that drive us, are precisely to bring us together in a sense of community—finding that we are not as alone as we thought is life-affirming and love-affirming.
OK. I’ll go see Please Give. I don’t have much desire to see Sex in the City. I went to see the last one and dragged my husband. He was the only man in the theater and I caught him laughing a few times. But his one looks, well…Please give seems more interesting.
Always up for a healthy discourse on film!
I love to talk about films—and I’ll love to hear if you like Please Give.
Hi Bruce – These days I tend to see very few movies in the theater (mostly because our local theater doesn’t show independent films), but I shall look forward to see Please Give once it hits DVD. If your Amazon system is correct and resonance with your blog means resonance with the film, I know I will like it very much indeed.
And I think you know that I will be seeing the Sex and the City movie opening weekend, embracing the dark and unfathomable all the way. :)
Happy weekend to you and yours.
Hey Kristen, Even if I won’t be seeing S and the C, I’d be more than interested to hear how it was, as any secret info leaked from the dark and unfathomable is of keen interest to me (and I’m sure to many of your readers).
Happy weekend to you and yours as well—time for some R&R after five, ten, Salon, et. al.
Well I think you know that I’ll be seeing SATC 2. And I may even venture to the theater with the other throngs of fans to enjoy it on the Big Screen, something I rarely do any longer. And in stilettos. Symbolic, if not actual.
As for Please Give, I love the idea of discussing films around this friendly hearth, and I am a particular fan of the indies and foreign films (no surprise there). Has it hit cable? Do you have any idea?
Looking forward to a few fun and fine films in the very near future.
As with Kristen, I’ll like to hear about SATC 2, but when you get to PlsGv I think you’ll like it. Still in theaters in LA and NYC so probably won’t hit cable or Netflix until that’s done (sadly for the film, that will probably be just a few weeks).
Happy filmgoing
I went to see the film with my husband and dear friend. I liked it very much but my husband hated it. We haven’t been this divided on a film since Lost in Translation. I loved that film and he hated it.
I found this slice of life to be a bit static but also quite poignant. It made me look inward. Take notice.
Thanks for the recommendation.
I loved Lost in Translation too. Sorry your husband hated Please Give… but I know that when I write something I always felt that I’d rather have people hate it and be lukewarm (of course love it is best).
Did your husband find it dull, self-indulgent, false? I know many of the characters seemed self-involved, but I so believed them that I found it compelling… yet I could see how it might have an opposite effect (now that you mention your husband’s response). Maybe it’s a polarizing film… I’ll like to hear more opinions and think more about what this movie stirs up in us, as it hit me so strongly.
I found Please Give to be resonant over a period of days—and I liked how subtle, real and underwritten it was. If nothing else, voting for indy filmmaking by going keeps the possibility alive that we will have films not based solely on comic books to choose from.
Thanks so much for coming back here to tell me about how it went.
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