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| /THR |
It’s
no secret that Enough Said, the fifth
feature written and directed by Nicole Holofcener (Please Give, Friends with
Money), posthumously stars James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) in one of his final roles. His performance here is a
tender one, and a notable departure from his known on-screen persona; he is just
a highlight, however, in Enough Said,
which easily ranks among Holofcener’s finest works and among the year’s very best.
Particularly
impressive about Enough Said is its
welcoming of reflection; thinking over this film allows for its thoughtfulness
and complexities to shine through. Yet taken at face value – a love story
between two divorced parents struggling to send their children off to college –
the film is perfectly lovely and enjoyable, a fresh, laid-back take on the
romantic comedy. Enough Said suits a
diversity of viewing styles, and rewards those seeking escapism as much as
those wanting something more.
Gandolfini
plays second-fiddle to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ (Recently an Emmy-winner for Veep) protagonist Eva, a freelancing
masseuse surrounded by bitter people-of-a-certain-age, including her best
friend Sarah (a charming Toni Collette) and ex-husband Peter (Toby Huss). She
turns to her daughter, Ellen (Tracey Fairaway), for brighter company, but is on
the verge of losing her to college. When she meets Gandolfini’s Albert at a
party, the two immediately connect: they are both divorced, both struggling to
let go of their daughters, both greatly hostile to the idea of “romance” – but they
are, principally, in need of a little companionship. Eva also happens to meet
Marianne (Catherine Keener, a regular of Holofcener’s), and the two strike up a
friendship (though she only adds to the circle of bitter, unfulfilled people in
Eva’s orbit). Marianne’s connection to Albert, however – unknown to us and to
Eva – makes her presence more narratively integral than originally expected.
The
conflicts here – the sullenness of middle-age, the pending empty nest of the
parent, the reluctance to try for love yet again – are nothing new, and have
been done to death in American fiction. But there is something very special
about Enough Said. Holofcener’s
script is quite terrific, from her crackling dialogue to the dense ideas filtered
through her broadly-comedic premise. She writes the interactions between Albert
and Eva effortlessly, perfectly capturing the awkwardness, excitement and hope
of new love, and her knack for humor is again on display.
Enough Said
is a great film not because this is a love story rooted in authenticity, nor
because it’s bitingly funny – though it is refreshingly genuine, and comedically
on-point. No, this is a great film because of how dead-on, how aggressively,
and how intimately Holofcener confronts the realities and intricacies of
middle-age life and human behavior. When Eva realizes Marianne’s connection to
Albert, her subsequent decisions might make you pull your hair out. She behaves
irrationally, dooming both her new friendship and her promising romance in the
process. You want to ask: Why the hell is she doing this? But it’s remarkably
familiar. Enough Said makes fools out
of all of us, of our tendency to turn what looks like heaven into hell.
Holofcener
writes what she knows, a strength many of her critics refer to as a weakness.
She depicts the day-to-day life of the middle- to upper-class, yes, but the
claim that she is merely making movies about “white people problems” is,
simply, off. When Sarah and her husband (Ben Falcone) go over the issue of whether
to fire their maid with sad repetitiveness, the message is not “see, look, we
all have to deal with incompetent maids!” Rather, Holofcener presents an
insignificant yet familiar disagreement, examining with piercing accuracy the
damaging patterns that develop as relationships grow stale.
Of
course, nothing gets sold here unless it is backed by the performance, and
Louis-Dreyfus – a mostly-exclusive sitcom actress – is more than up to the
task. For much of the beginning of the film, she treads acquainted territory.
Zany, quick-witted and charming, Eva can sometimes feel like the movie-version
of Elaine from Seinfeld or Christine
from The New Adventures of Old Christine.
But as Enough Said darkens its tone,
Louis-Dreyfus sparkles, conveying a shaky vulnerability and emotional
insecurity that, upon reflection, had been on-display throughout. You can get
lost in what she’s doing here, in the sheer fact that this feels less like a
performance than a person; when Eva breaks down, however, it’s clear just how good
Louis-Dreyfus’ work is here.
She
is matched by Gandolfini’s warm, sensitive performance as Albert, and a
collection of admirably shaded supporting characters. Keener, in particular,
continues to reveal new abilities in Holofcener’s films, this time playing a
grating New Age-type that’s all too familiar yet never runs into cliché.
Enough Said
illustrates harsh realities, and the patterns that evolve as life goes on – a
resistance to love, a dependence on our children, a nitpicking of trivial
details. Holofcener delicately implicates her audience, but she does so whilst
on Eva’s journey: it’s one where real change is possible, where life can be
lived, and where happiness is, however foggy and in the distance, within reach.
In a year filled with tension-ridden stories of horror and survival – from 12 Years a Slave to Gravity to Captain Phillips
– Enough Said, mercifully and
gracefully, stands apart from the pack.
A
 |
| /NYTimes |
With
In a World..., writer-director-star
Lake Bell (Over Her Dead Body)
critiques the rampant sexism prevalent in a very specific business – the
voiceover industry – as a way of making larger claims about similar attitudes
in Hollywood and beyond.
Aspiring
voiceover superstar Carol (Bell) contends with an industry just not in the
market for a female voice – literally. Her father, Sam (Fred Melamed of A Serious Man), is a legend in the
industry, up for a lifetime achievement award and fresh off the publication of
his memoir (Think Frances Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola, pre-Lost in Translation). By honing in on
such a specific business, Bell effectively throws a set of problems at the
screen, and aptly applies them in a larger context. It is no coincidence that
Bell is one of only two female-writer directors – the other being Holofcener,
oddly enough – to have their films reach a remotely substantial market this
year. There is a personal truth to every moment in this movie.
Carol
is marginalized throughout, and Bell carefully tracks this from all sides. Her
father patronizes her, telling her to instead focus on the funny voices she has
created (most humorously, her Russian Star Wars character). As her career
begins taking off, her chief competition, Gustav (Ken Marino, Party Down), does not care to know who “this
woman," i.e. his competition, actually is – to the point where he mistakenly
sleeps with her. She is always the woman, rarely the person, and
never Carol. It is a credit to Bell for clearly laying this out without hitting
you over the head with it.
In a World...
is pleasurable, and Bell’s smart approach to sexism lifts it above
cookie-cutter fare. There is not much beyond this, however – the picture as a
whole does not come together. There are subplots that do not really connect: her
sister Dani (Michaela Watkins, who also made a brief appearance in Enough Said) makes a stupid mistake and
struggles to put back together her marriage – while Watkins is wonderful and
works great with Bell, her moments on the screen never translate into anything
beyond mere filler. Ditto a romantic subplot between Carol and voiceover producer
Louis (Demetri Martin): it just doesn’t add much to Carol as a character
besides “damn it, why won’t you pick someone that’s good for you?” It
can be sweet, even affecting – but it is inessential and peripheral.
In a World...
is pretty light fare, even if it remains a strong debut from Bell. Her presence
as an actress is extremely appealing, and as a writer she proves to have a
confident, unique voice. While I am not so sure about her directorial
capabilities – in general, the style here is flat and disallows the proper
integration of the film’s many disparate parts – In a World... is highly-enjoyable and gently-provocative cinema. B