FilmBlather.com

Lovely & Amazing is a wonder, a quiet movie filled with subtle truths and scenes of power and authenticity. It's about three women, but it isn't a "chick flick" in any sense of that horrendous, patronizing term. There is no easily definable category to comfortably house this versatile work; not "chick flick," not "slice-of-life" not even "comedy" or "drama". Or "dramedy". The closest, I suppose, would be "character study," as the movie, among other things, represents the epitome of the term, concerned first and foremost with never betraying its ensemble of protagonists.

There is no storyline in the conventional sense, though what develops in director Nicole Holofcenter's situational drama is as compelling as any incident/conflict/resolution movie. It takes place roughly in the time frame during which Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn) moves into the hospital for liposuction. Jane is a mother of two: Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), an actress, and Michelle (Catherine Keener), an aspiring artist. Growing lonely, Jane has adopted a ten year-old black girl named Annie (Raven Goodwin), who does not hesitate to ask questions regarding why her skin, or her hair is different from everyone in her family. She also cannot understand why her friend Lorraine (Aunjanue Ellis), her Big Sister in the community outreach program of the same name, doesn't want to play with her anymore (Lorraine explains that when she signed up for the program, she was expecting to get someone from a poor family).

Meanwhile, Michelle has gotten herself into a motionless marriage, with a husband who obviously cheats on her and resents the fact that while he is out making a living, his wife sits at home making tiny wicker chairs and homemade wrapping paper, and then spends her days unsuccessfully attempting to sell her creations to novelty stores. To spite him, she gets a minimum-wage-paying job at the local one hour photo, where her boss is a 17 year-old (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is intrigued with the possibility of a relationship with someone old enough to be his mother. Michelle is aware that the situation is fraught with dangers, legal and otherwise, but she likes the way that the boy seems genuinely interests, and considers the possibilities.

Elizabeth, unlike Michelle, is actually a talented artist, and has gotten herself a small role in a soon-to-open movie, though she isn't as excited as her agent about the fact that her face made it on the poster. She has an audition for the female lead in a movie starring current Hollywood heartthrob Kevin McCabe (Dermot Mulroney). Like Michelle, she is in a dead-end relationship (though one not nearly as sexless) with a nature documentary producer who is self-involved and utterly disinterested with Elizabeth's travails as a struggling actress. She is intrigued when McCabe, aroused by their make-out session/audition, invites her for a slightly more intense workout.

For a taste of the movie's fearless uniqueness, look no further than the relationship between Elizabeth and her nature-boy significant other. When these two were introduced, I was positive that I knew the way they would end; namely, that the empowered Elizabeth would tell him off and storm out of the room, leaving him throwing up his hands and shaking his head. But no: the movie blindsided me by essentially reversing the situation. Here is a rare case where a woman discovers What She Really Wants (or in this case, what she doesn't want) not at the expense of another, but by actually learning from her mistakes.

Michelle, clearly the most desperate of the three women profiled here, tries desperately to fill the big fat emptiness inside her with anything she can get her hands on. Her proudest accomplishment, which she mentions at nearly every opportunity is the fact that she gave birth naturally, making her the respectful envy of every woman who hollered for an epidural. The movie doesn't villainize her husband, even when it is implied that he crushed one of her wicker creations on purpose. I imagine I would feel much the same way in his situation, and the movie expertly makes us understand why he turns to other women, just as we understand why Michelle finds herself interested in her 17 year-old co-worker. And, lest you think the movie uses statutory rape as a plot device for Michelle's self-discovery, Holofcenter holds her responsible for what she does.

Hollywood is wary of portraying real people who exist and operate in the real world for fear that we'd be disinterested, even bored. I couldn't take my eyes off Lovely & Amazing, an extraordinary film about three women who are extraordinary as well, because they love, and hate, and laugh, and cry, and dream.