Please Give (2010)

“Please Give” is a very New York film about New York women (and one husband) living in the Big Apple and grappling with life, death, love and, most of all, guilt. Guilt for being successful while so many other people are homeless or hopeless. Guilt for not being able to help one’s dying grandmother as she continues to slips away. Not everyone here, though, knows guilt. One woman feels … nothing, while a teenage girl is -- as all teenagers are – “the center of her own attention,” as Eddie Vedder sang. Catherine Keener, always so damn good, has the lead role of mother/wife/owner of high-end second-hand store in this story, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. Oliver Platt is the husband, a decent guy until he starts an affair. The only tangible “plot” is Keener and Platt’s desire for the next-door apartment, owned by dying grandma, as a place to expand their tiny chunk of NYC. That’s the beauty of this film. There are no bad guys, no disasters, no huge climax, nor a moment where the orchestral swells as all of life’s problems are settled. I felt as if I spent 90 minutes with real people. No guilt there. B+