What Maisie Knew 2013

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The result is a film that deeply engages us on multiple levels. Not only do we wonder what Maisie knows and how she knows it, we want to get this seedling to a place where she won't have to be transplanted every day. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Some moviegoers may opt for an easier cinematic pleasure than this carefully crafted, discomforting look at familial misery in hyper drive, but it is the most provocative movie about parenting I've seen since The Kids Are All Right. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: "What Maisie Knew" lays waste to the comforting dogma that children are naturally resilient, and that our casual, unthinking cruelty to them can be answered by guilty and belated displays of affection. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Poignant and exemplary, this is one of the best films of 2013. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The camera is often at Maisie's eye level, emphasizing how adults are seen by the perceptive Maisie. The sad-eyed Aprile's honest portrayal is heart-wrenching. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "What Maisie Knew" packs a surprising emotional punch, one that stays with you for a while when the movie's over. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: This beautifully observed drama essentially strikes the same sad note for 98 minutes, though with enough sensitivity and emotional variation to make the experience cumulatively heartrending. Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: It fails to bring much insight to what essentially amounts to a massive parental guilt trip. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: A raw, uncomfortable examination of a family torn apart by two parents who love their daughter only half as much as they love themselves. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: What Maisie Knew" is about the erosion of innocence in the midst of plenty, yet it rarely feels heavy-handed, so serene is its own faith in its tiny heroine's strength. Read more

Mick LaSalle, Hearst Newspapers: It's a study of human nature, not at its worst, but at its most typically pathetic, and it goes to show that the more things don't change, the more they stay lousy. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Selfishness and cruelty never go out of style, which might explain why this millennial update of Henry James's 1897 novel works so well. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: We experience her upsets without the leavening of outside interferences. And because Aprile is such an intuitive performer, we are always searching her face for the imprint of her suffering. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Both of these actors have been great before and will be great again. But in this bleak indie bummer that confuses hopelessness with depth, they're really nothing more than selfish, one-dimensional monsters. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Tasteful melodrama benefits from uniformly strong performances. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Without losing the 19th century author's sensibility, screenwriters Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne have brought into the modern age James' unforgiving examination of the effect of a messy divorce on a child. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: On the surface, this indie does sound like standard-issue material, but its dynamics are far more complex than its simple exterior. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: The film is touching, filled with taste and care, but not enough to avoid being coy and sentimental. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Mischievous updating of the Henry James novel, made especially moving by young Onata Aprile. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: There is much anger, betrayal, and cruelty as the girl's watchful eyes take in everything and she learns, slowly, what she must do to survive. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Yes, these people are cliches. But they know it. And so do the actors, who push past the stereotypes to slowly show us that perhaps these young and rather unimportant people are far more grown-up and involved than anyone else around them. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: The film raises more uncomfortable questions about Maisie's uncertain future than it ever answers, but that's in keeping with the emotional honesty the filmmakers are striving for. Read more

Linda Holmes, NPR: Whether or not there is story plausibility here, there is an emotional integrity to every reaction Maisie has to every development. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The aggravatingly manipulative What Maisie Knew feels, perhaps deliberately, as if its emotions were drawn in brightly colored crayon. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: This is a fine idea for a PSA TV commercial, but (a) they already did it back in the '70s and (b) it goes on well past the 30-second mark. Read more

Sheila O'Malley, Chicago Sun-Times: "What Maisie Knew" is an indictment of those who do not realize that innocence is not something to be scorned and used, but cherished and protected. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, abetted by an astute scriptfrom Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright, find something sadly timeless in a child torn apart in a custody battle that no one wins, least of all the child. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Intimate, unnerving and entirely addictive. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The story is sad, but the talent involved in its telling is elating. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Sensitive and almost unwatchably perceptive about dysfunctional families -- and it's acted with knife-sharp precision. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Since moving into domestic subjects, their (Scott McGehee and David Siegel's) footing has been less sure, and you'll resent What Maisie Knew's tidy conclusion. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The film is admirably committed to simulating the messy experience of life as a real Maisie might live it. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: As Maisie, Aprile seems lit from within; a more vividly natural child actress I have trouble imagining. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What Maisie Knew gives the audience a ground-eye view of its mesmerizing title character, a plucky, charismatic New Yorker who navigates downtown bars and building lobbies with the street savvy of a pro. Read more