What Maisie Knew

[prettyxcool]

Turned up at Curzon Soho this morning at 10.25am, and joined the small queue forming. Did not expect anyone from FMUK so was delighted to be joined by funthing and her lovely young mum, who I had not seen for a while, and later shmile turned up too.

The lady from Times+ greeted us and it looked like she was scanning the barcodes on the tickets but it turned out to be her phone and probably keeping a tally. No mention of Times card.

It was a different screening room then the ones I had been used to, this had about three rows slightly on a higher level, so we took the front one of the three. Then at 11am we had 20 minutes of trailers and advertising about Times+ (the same ones, so gets a bit boring now!) before the film started.

An absolute gem. Heartbreaking and touching. It is all so real, the jerk of a father, the undeserving mother. The story is told so well through the little girl, Maisie, how it impacts on her. Onata Aprile is just adorable and absolutely brilliant as Maisie, so beautifully acted. The adults were just as good too. Could not get over how good Steve Coogan is in a serious role, just expected him to be silly and comedic. Julianne Moore's role, torn between her work and her young daughter is heart rendering. I really love Alexander Skarsgard and Joanna Vanderham in their roles (although too perfect), but they along with Maisie stole my heart. Take a hanky. 9/10

[steve]

Saw this this morning at Showcase cinema M/c.
Not having read nor heard anything about it beforehand there was a bit near the beginning where I thought it was going to to be film about abuse. Didn't need this first thing Sunday morning. Fortunately my missgivings were wrong and it turned out out to be a sensitive film about a family break up seen through the eyes of a young girl.

[akh43]

I thought this was a good Sunday morning film, sensitive issue really felt for Maisie at times. I felt she ended up with the right people in the end at least they cared for her and didnt use her to get at each other like the parents did. I didnt read up anything on this beforehand and it was a nice surprise it was as good as it was.

[RAZORBACK]

Although I wasn't really in the mood for this sort of movie I still thought it was pretty good, it portrayed an all too common event in a sensitive & relatively realistic way and I was relieved that it ended on positive note for Maisie (at least in the short term).

With decent performances from everyone involved it gets an 8/10 from me...

[rawsalsa]

An incredibly touching film that was perfect for a Sunday morning. Told from the child's perspective, it realistically depicted the breakdown of relationships. It had some comedic as well as emotional moments... I certainly had a tear in my eye at several points throughout the film. Excellent acting performances all round, in particular from the captivating child playing Maisie, Julianne Moore and Alex Skarsgård. Loved it. 9/10.

[Ms Thrifty]

I was able to see this at CPH (was looking out, but didn't see any other members there) as I went to see Alpha Papa there on Saturday and found they still had members' tickets for the Sunday preview.

I liked this slightly less than did others here - my rating, at 7.5, would be nearer that on IMDB. It was well done but did seem to ramble on rather towards the end, before reaching a conclusion that wasn't one, so far as I was concerned - though maybe that was the point.

As an aside, it was bizarre not to have seen Steve Coogan in a film for literally years (Cock & Bull Story being the last for me), only to see him in two such different films on consecutive days.

I had a similar experience to Beate with my ticket - the member of staff peered at it and asked if I was there for the Times+ preview, so I too had to point out that it was also a members' preview and that this was indeed written on the blackboard over the door.