I find myself perplexed as to why I enjoyed this movie so much that I'm actually going to say it's the best movie I've seen so far this year. The movie didn't do well at the box office nor will it win any major film award nominations. Yet for all that either my movie standards have fallen way down or Nanny Diaries does a fabulous and tremendous job as a film that strikes a particular cord in me. What Nanny Diaries accomplishes is bewilder in terms of presenting a totally different movie genre than the trailer that preceded it. First off, Nanny Diaries is not a romantic comedy but actually a family drama thus even those audience members watching this movie must somehow get adjusted even as they watch the movie as to what they are experiencing, the expectations and the reality of this film are wildly different. With overt and cute allusions to Mary Poppins (1964) from the umbrella to the musical selections, the movie begins with an almost surrealistic, whimsical beginning suggestive of scenes from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

Briefly, Nanny Diaries is an adult version of Mary Poppins for grown-ups. This movie isn't shy about presenting a stark portrayal of sharp class distinctions between the educated, rich elite and the rest of the middle-income, lower class, almost invisible and ignored segments of society. Scarlett Johannson who plays a recent graduate in business with a minor in anthropology is actually narrating, in part, an anthropological, diary recollection of her experience as a nanny. As such, the audience is exposed to a butchering and raw attack on people's self-identity and esteem as the class roles played by the rich, the bored, the money-consumed are like filthy clothing that Scarlett must pick up afterwords and in the middle of all this tragedy is a little boy who reminds the audience of most of use, our insecurities, our innate desire to be loved and feel secure and safe.

What makes this movie one of the best of the year isn't the brilliant acting though Scarlett does a commendable job, but more it is the authentic and demanding script that rips the hearts out of the audience by its mass audience presentation of the harsh underbelly of American human society - what man can tear a woman's heart, what a helpless boy can teach, what the words, "I Love You" can obligate one's soul to. This is the most biting, icy, politely edgy film without any use of street gutter talk. And when at the end, all becomes calm, life continues but in significantly altered ways, but not storybook ways, but in real ways that we can all learn from. Perhaps, this is way this film is remarkable - it has a real message, an important one that really matters and is presented in an entertaining, captivating, and compelling way that captures that heart and warms it up and leaves it ready to face the next day.