Subtle, nice, funny, lovely, smart, wise & warm, this is a brilliant tale of relationships in our time. A young woman, Maggie, looks at her failures in coupling and decides to have a child alone, before hooking up with a married man, John. After a great barrage of conception gags, the film settles into a deeper exploration of blended family dynamics and good-girl behaviour.
Maggie, Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha, Mistress America), falls in love with John, Ethan Hawke (Boyhood) destroying his volatile marriage to the brilliant and difficult Georgette, Julianne Moore (Almost Heaven, The Kids are Alright, Still Alice).
Greta Gerwig plays a slightly deeper and more rounded young New Yorker than her 2 brilliant previous efforts & Ethan Hawke again creates a deeply flawed yet sympathetic father as he did in Boyhood. Julianne Moore entertainingly pushes the boundaries of her comfort zone as a fierce Danish academic in a supporting role. The trio's 3 children are also terrific.
Set in NYC, you have to be reminded of Woody Allen and he'd be proud if he'd made this one; a brilliant piece of cinema in every way. Maggie's Plan is an original, timeless but contemporary story full of domestic tension, rich characters, interesting locations and beguiling images. The writer/director is Rebecca Miller, daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, Streetcar Named Desire).
I loved it for its intelligence and I laughed a lot right up until the satisfying ending. At 99 minutes it's taut, neat and spot-on with modern love issues. One of the year's best so far, 4 & ½ stars.
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