A very special film What Maisie Knew delves into the touchy subject deals of divorce and the collateral damage caused by parting parents. The film has excellent acting, very good direction and a story that’s heartfelt within the disturbing plot. The film comes in a Blu-ray combo pack that includes the DVD with special bonus features.
The film centers on Beale (Steve Coogan) a businessman who often travels to Europe in his busy world and Susanna (Julianne Moore) an aging rock star who finds herself back on tour trying to keep up her image. In the midst of all this we are introduced to young Maisie (Onata Aprile) their 6-year-old daughter who finds herself being cared for by Margo (Joanna Vanderham) a very capable nanny.
With their lives in flux the two decide that a separation would be best and they file for divorce. Susanna’s life on the road causes her to lose permanent custody of Maisie where we find the youngster being shipped to Beale’s new apartment. Maisie arrives finding Margo as her continuing nanny and a short time later becoming her stepmother. When Susanna hooks up with Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård) a bartender for her permanent companion the divorced couple starts a war for control of Maisie’s welfare.
The movie takes some twists and turns and we get a story that shows Maisie getting pulled from one lifestyle to another. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (co-directors of Bee Season) keep the movie moving along introducing new characters as they flesh out the main stars. The process is quite good because it provides twists keeping the film interesting wanting to see the outcome of the very compelling plot. The two filmmakers show the deep seeded affects of this hurtful tug of war in the eyes of young Maisie playing the sad chords that tug her heartstrings.
While Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan have an easy time of making their roles convincing they also make their characters distasteful and overly controlling to the point of being almost implausible. For this the movie weakens to some extent losing some of its credibility. Although I did like seeing the two in the film, their characters would have been best served with lesser-known actors as their high profiles actually distract from the main plot as movie plays out.
But, saving the film the young Onata Aprile gives a terrific performance as the youngster who gets pulled from one bad parent to another showing how devastating a situation can be for children caught up in a terrible marriage. The bright eyed and very pleasing personality of Aprile in the role of Maisie brings the empathy the directors work for allowing for the very interesting finale.
Both Joanna Vanderham and Alexander Skarsgård turn in very good performances as the two pawns in the battle for possession of Maisie. I liked the innocence of Vanderham who creates Margo as the naïve person who accepts Beale’s intentions as the result of her charms and Skarsgard as the unwitting bartender who gets taken in my Susanna’s need to retaliate.
The Blu-ray disc has some special bonus features including:
- “Commentary by the directors” I was not impressed by the commentary even though the two directors do explain why they chose the ending and what they went through to finish the film with their high profile actors being pulled to other projects.
- “Deleted Scenes” Include a music video featuring Julianne Moore.
The video quality is top drawer with clear and clean presentation in 16×9 Widescreen 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio. The interiors are bright and when the mood changes the lighting and camera filters change with it keeping the film in context with the script. Close ups are sharp and defining showing expressions on Maisie as she deals with arguments between her parents.
The sound quality works well with the Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 on the Blu-ray disc allowing for clear and understandable dialogue. Julianne Moore’s rock song blasts on my sound system and the surround kicks in now and then as well.
What Maisie Knew has been rated R by the MPAA for some language. Unfortunately the derogatory language used gets very abusive so be very cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander Skarsgård, Joanna Vanderham and Onata Aprile
Directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
MPAA Rating: R for some language
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 1 hr 39 min
Video Release Date: August 13, 2013
Original Film Release Date: May 3, 2013
Language: English
Format: Blu-ray, DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1
Video: 16×9 Widescreen 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 2 Disc
Distributed by: Millennium
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
