Review of What Maisie Knew (2013) by Foxgrove — 05 Sep 2013

This little gem is totally engrossing telling the story of a young girl suffering the fall out from her parents messy divorce. The performances are all good, but I have to single out Alexander Skarsgard.

His hesitant but caring character is so unlike anything else he has done, and you are rooting for him to become romantically involved with Joanna Vanderham from there first meeting. The screenplay is for the most part good, but I do feel that Julianne Moore's part is written (and played so broadly that her character is in danger of being turned into a 'bad mum' caricature.

This also has the unfortunate side effect of making Skarsgard and Vanderham's characters almost too saintly. Another slightly baffling thing in the story (unless I missed something) is how did Skarsgard and Moore know Where Vanderham and the little girl were when they moved to the beach house.

Still, I'm being picky as this is one of the better films of the year so far. Onata Aprile as Maisie is perfect lacking any of the precociousness often found in child performances.