Are You a Friendly Neighbor?

There are subtle questions we may ask in life about our place in the family of things.

Why am I lucky and that person is not?

What should I do if I see a homeless person asking for money?

How do I make my kid feel better when someone picks on her or him?

How much do I charge for this table when I sell it?

These are some of the questions the film Please Give explores—amidst a backdrop of life and death, health and vitality, good neighborliness, and infidelity.

Nicole Holofcener is tops for me as a filmmaker. I have been following her films religiously since I saw Lovely and Amazing in 2001. The reason is because there is so much love in them. Holofcener’s films are like nothing else you will watch. You will love all of the characters, and yet the characters are flawed and imperfect, wrestling with very real questions we face in daily life.

If that is not consciousness, I don’t know what is!

I was never a fan of Jane Austen when I studied English literature, because I thought her characters were too uppity. However, I do have respect for art that delves into what is behind the curtain of upper classes, and Holofcener’s work explores these questions through fragile, feely women who are trying to figure out how to live. I have begun to think of Holofcener as a classy blend of Woody Allen films—for the characters’ awkwardness and foibles—and Jane Austen novels—for the spotlight and commentary on class status, side by side with romantic elements.

The Ms. Wonderful Fillm Club will be discussing Nicole Holofcener films this September. I am calling it Holoftember, and we ask you to Please Watch and Please Listen.

Listen to the podcast here on Substack or on:

Spotify (add to your “following” list)

Apple (subscribe on your iPhone or your i-whatevers)

You can also watch the podcast of Ms. Wonderful and Ms. Cool bantering about Please Give on YouTube. Subscribe there too, baby. I wore a brunette wig and a cap that says “hot moms club” for this special event!

Let’s celebrate the unique and quirkly brunettes—and there are a lot of brunettes in Holofcener land….

The last 5 minutes of this podcast has, as always, a Ms. Wonderful imagined script that happens AFTER the movie. Fast forward if you want to imagine this new scenario along with us.

What kind of Ms. are you?

Next week, tune in for a discussion on Enough Said with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and James Gandolfini.