Synopsis: Kate (Catherine Keener) has a lot on her mind. There’s the ethics problem of buying furniture on the cheap at estate sales and marking it up at her trendy Manhattan store (and how much markup can she get away with?). There’s the materialism problem of not wanting her teenage daughter (Sarah Steele) to want the expensive things that Kate wants. There’s the marriage problem of sharing a partnership in parenting, business, and life with her husband Alex (Oliver Platt) but sensing doubt nibbling at the foundations. And there’s Kate’s free-floating 21st century malaise—the problem of how to live well and be a good person when poverty, homelessness, and sadness are always right outside the door.

Plus, there’s the neighbors: cranky, elderly Andra (Ann Guilbert) and the two granddaughters who look after her (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet). As Kate, Alex, and Abby interact with the people next door, with each other, and with their New York surroundings, a complex mix of animosity, friendship, deception, guilt, and love plays out with both sharp humor and pathos. PLEASE GIVE is writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s perceptive—and devastatingly funny—take on modern life’s contradictions, good intentions and shaky moral bearings.

Review: Please Give is a modern film about modern life.  The film is largely character and dialogue driven and to great results.  When I went into this film I expected a standard slice of life movie, but I came out from this one a fan of writer/director Nicole Holofcener.  Her take on relationships and life is absolutely stunning.

Please Give is one of those sleeper films that really hits hard down the road, once word gets out.  You don't get the all-star cast or the special effects budget, but what you get is a real life drama that you can relate to.  The film looks wonderful on blu-ray, the high-definition just adds to the real world nature of the movie.  I highly recommend this one.