Nicole Holofcener has made only four movies in the course of her approximate 15-year directing career, but that could be because each movie is really two in one: There’s the picture right in front of you, the one you actually watch, which can often feel like a clutch of orphan vignettes wandering around in search of some organizing principle. And then there’s the way that shambling mosaic reforms itself in your mind minutes, hours or days afterward. You think you’ve buttoned up the characters’ lives and laid them to rest, only to find yourself making unbidden, random observations about them as you’re fixing a sandwich or flossing your teeth: Why did that character talk to her mother that way, and why did her mother let her? That girl was so lovely — why were her social skills so lame? Two hundred dollars for a pair of jeans? That’s nuts! Holofcener writes, and helps to shape on-screen, characters we often don’t even like, and what do we do? We invite them home with us. Talk about a soft touch.
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REVIEW: Strong Performances, Superb Direction Lift Please Give
