What Maisie Knew- Heartbreaking at Times, yet Delightful in the End

What Maisie knew tells the story of a 7 year old girl stuck in the middle of a very bitter and ugly custody battle. The whole movie is mainly seen through the eyes of the little girl "Maisie" played by "Onata Aprile", who was simply amazing in this performance, she doesn't say much, but she really doesn't have to her face does all the talking! She conveys all her emotions with a simple look, her eyes are very expressive and that's really what catches your attention. The way she simply looks upon her mother (played by Julianne Moore), who was just remarkably great at being horrible, when she asks her a question that you obviously shouldn't be asking a 7 year old!! Or when her father is trying to explain why he has to leave without taking her with him, she absorbs all that information in and responds with a simple look or nod, which her parents always took as a sign that she understands and is ok with whatever horrible decision they are making. You definitely feel for the little girl , she's going through one of the most dreadful things possible, a divorce, and from the beginning we can see that her parents aren't really meant to be parents. Her mother is an aging rockstar who can't face the fact that she isn't as successful as she used to be, and her dad is an art dealer always traveling from one place to another, they are simply not responsible and are obviously the kind of people who are never gonna change they're lifestyle to accommodate the fact that they have a child now! A child who requires attention and love, not in the form of gifts, as they seem to believe. So of course there has to be some good in this poor girls life, its not all sadness, and that is when we are introduced to the delightful characters of "Margo" the nanny played by the very cute "Joanna Vanderham" and "Lincoln" the bartender/Stepdad (her mother's boy toy) played by the adorable "Alexander Skarsgard" these two at first are simply the parents way of having someone to look after their daughter when they couldn't, which was really most of the time, and along the way Maisie finds herself accepting them as her caretakers because they give her what a child at that age really needs love, caring, and most importantly selflessness. They didn't ask to become parents to a child that is not their own, but they couldn't ignore what was happening in front of them to that little girl, it just wasn't right. Maisie develops such a wonderful relationship with both these characters the one with Margo is already there from the beginning because she's been her nanny for a while and she understands her completely, but with Lincoln it took some time for her to get used to him, and I gotta say watching Alexander Sakrsgard being all cute and adorable with that child was the cutest thing ever. Their scenes together really were some of the best in the movie, he comes into this girls life unexpected and slowly becomes a permanent fixture, she finds herself depending on him to always be there for her mainly because the poor girl never experienced what a "normal" 7 year old child's relationship with their parents should be. Like I said the whole movie is seen from Maisie's perspective, and I think it was really nice and different to see how a child that is going through something as awful as a divorce, observes and understands the little things she witnesses, and how they help her act and grow along the way. It's not easy for a child no matter how old they are to go through something like that, and this story shows it, but it also shows that sometimes you find your family in the most unexpected way. You get what you can from the situation you're in and Maisie does exactly that, she is young and some may think not mature enough to understand and perceive the situation she's in, but I think she knows exactly what's going on and she finds her way through it all because of the kindness and caring she is shown by her nanny and a complete stranger.
If you're into contemporary movies then you'll like this, the acting, the setting, and even  the lack of dialogue most of the time really help make this a heartbreakingly cute story. Absolutely Loved it!!
  
And just to prove just how cute Alexander and Onata were, I present  EXHIBIT 1!! Enjoy!

Up Close and Personal with Characters

How do I begin describing Eric, let me see; he's a sexy combination of someone who is Confident and Selfish with a dash of cute and sensitive. His development in ' The Sookie Stackhouse' novels has been the most impressive ( well at least for me it has been since he's my favorite!!!) I LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM!! Ok ok back to reality, in all seriousness he really is a good example of a character that you can't wait to read about in every book and see what he's gonna say or do! The little things he says just make you all giddy and happy, like in the first book when he got Sookie the roses as a thank you for helping him or when he got her the nice coat after her old one got ruined, or when Sookie woke up one morning and found that someone had paid to have her driveway fixed, which was something she kept talking about throughout the whole book. He LISTENS TO HER!! He's just thoughtful like that and when he began to have actual feelings for her those little things became "Intensified" he turned into her Vampire Protector, her guardian in a way. And she couldn't help but feel the same way ( she already fell for innocent,cute, sensitive, amnesiac Eric when she was keeping him safe and that relationship was beautiful) and yeah ok they became more serious after they shared blood (which is a serious thing in the vampire world) but it was still based on actual feelings  and emotions. Eric shared blood with her the first time to save her life, yeah she'd be connected to him for a while (but who's COMPLAINING!!) I mean come on it's ERIC FREAKING NORTHMAN! The Norse God (credit to Nour for giving him this title) who with a look can make you melt into a puddle on the ground. He's a tall blue-eyed blonde vampire with a stare that could end wars, or in his case start ones! Because let's face it he's slightly Evil (man this guy keeps getting better and better the more I talk about him!) Evil to me is a very sexy trait, and it gets sexier when this evil character begins to show signs of caring and love towards the most unlikely person. Now the Eric in the books and the Eric in the series have a slight difference in the manner of let's say communicating and expressing how they feel. Of course when you're reading you have your imagination to depend on and when you watch a character come to life it's a different experience! Nonetheless, they are both awesome!! I love how the "Swedish Giant of Deliciousness" Alexander Skarsgard portrays Eric and makes us fall even more in love with him along the way. He brings so much depth to the character and he just has this aura of hotness and awesomeness surrounding him that you just can't help but gawk at the screen and want more of him. 

While reading the books I actually found myself waiting for it to become night time (in the books duh! cuz vampires can't walk during the day in these novels) just to read about any kind of interaction involving Eric!! Now he might not be the most subtle when expressing how he feels about something but he sure is good when he expresses his love for Sookie. He's the kind of person who's very VERY protective of the people he loves and cares about. And the fact that both him and Sookie truly love each other regardless of the "Blood Bond" because she had it broken to see if those feelings were real and they GENUINELY WERE!! totally makes their relationship worth the late nights I spent racing through the chapters to see how these two are gonna make it in the messed up world they live in.