Film No. 38 (2016) Maggie's Plan June 1th.

Film No. 38 (2016) June 15th.  6.30 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge. 

"I couldn't help overhearing this young lady, she says she has two cheques and I don't have any". (John (Ethan Hawke) meets Maggie (Greta Gerwig) for the first time in the campus finance department).

While Woody Allen is taking a break until the release of Cafe Society (July release), and you find you have the need for a quirky, smart comedy with a bunch of actors who have mastered the art of playing out unselfconscious characters, then Maggies Plan may fill that void. Greta Gerwig, for starters, could be a reincarnation of Diane Keaton in all her Annie Hall glory. Rebecca Miller, daughter of Arthur, writes and directs in a way Woody would surely be proud.


So why the comparison? Well Maggie (Gerwig) has a plan to have a baby without the complications of a man. She approaches Guy (Travis Fimmel) a dude who sees Maggie as being out of his league but who is happy to provide Maggie with the necessary seed to impregnate herself. Enter John (Ethan Hawke) a married man who seduces Maggie in the same time frame. Who's baby is this going to be? Suddenly we move forward three years. It's quirky remember, a little Woody like and may I say slightly more entertaining than most of his most recent fodder.


 Move forward three years, Maggie and John are living together and have had a gorgeous little girl Lily (Ida Rohatyn, who steals a scene or two) but their love for each other is losing its lustre. Georgette (Julianne Moore), John's ex-wife represents Maggie's best bet for exiting her union with John. This leads Maggie to hatch her second plan but it is trumped by a plan Georgette has dreamt up. Other than Moore's forced accent (Danish) the light and quirky comedy succeeds. Gerwig has her fans, I'm one, and she carries MP because everything revolves around Maggie.


Unlike Allen, Miller is not prolific. Some say the weight of expectation because of her famous father has laid heavy, but I doubt it. All her projects are completed with a great thoroughness and bear her stamp. Proof as a writer and The Private Lives of Pipa Lee as both writer and director attest to this. Maggie's Plan is less serious than her other projects but no less thorough; it's an excellent example quality cinema. It's also very amusing.  9GUMS.