On Wednesday, noted American filmmaker Nicole Holofcener spoke about her career at KVIFF Talk, which was recorded and will be available on KVIFF.TV. In the evening of the same day, she presented Please Give, the oldest of the three films representing her work at the 58th KVIFF.
This emotional dramedy about “white guilt,” the power of class privilege, and the middle-class desire for fleeting happiness features typically neurotic characters. It is the combination of these characters together with New York being the frequent setting of her films what earned her the moniker of “female Woody Allen”. “His early films definitely influenced me, but I’d rather stand on my own merit,” the New Yorker rejected the label.
When one of the viewers said at the debate that she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the film, the director cheered: “That is my goal. After all, that’s life.” Then she asked the audience if they found something too American in Please Give. “High prices in shops,” someone from the audience replied. “And this is a film from 2010,” Holofcener commented dryly.
