The choice of shooting black and white for this picture is key to its warm feelings of cinematic nostalgia and the seemingly effortless naturalism. There’s an instant timeless quality to Frances Ha, recalling the works of Woody Allen (Manhattan), Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise), Francios Truffaut and other New Wavers. Perfectly in sync with Boambach’s freeform style is the grand presence of Greta Gerwig whose lively personality is the raison d’etre for this picture. And recalling Diane Keaton’s performance in Annie Hall, we should expect Greta Gerwig to have similar award accolades during award season.
Showing posts with label Noah Baumbach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noah Baumbach. Show all posts
Friday, 5 July 2013
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Greenberg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Duplass, Chris Messina
**1/2
By Alan Bacchus
Well, I didn’t completely hate the film, which doesn’t exactly make for a quotable recommendation, but after suffering through two thirds of another dreadfully navel gazing idiosyncratic Baumbach comedy/drama, the final act surprisingly moved me from the category of detest to a slight acknowledge of admiration.
There’s no doubt we’re in the internalized emotional world of Noah Baumbach, who makes updated Gen X slacker movies for intellectual hipsters (ie. Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding). This time round he crafts a study of his title character Roger Greenberg (Stiller) who has been released from the hospital for a nervous breakdown (and possibly a suicide attempt). What’s eating Greenberg you ask? He’s forty, with a once promising music career, but now finds himself as a failed artist with a failed relationship who can only make a living as a carpenter. When he arrives in Los Angeles to housesit his brother’s luxurious home in the Hills and their sick German shepherd dog, it becomes the opportunity to reconcile his anxieties with the help of his brother’s flighty assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig).
While we can all relate to some of the career and relationship anxieties in Greenberg’s life Baumbach injects his character with such a self-loathing misplaced by an annoying self-absorption he becomes so unlikeable and unpleasant. Alexander Payne’s Sideways makes for a good comparison. Like Greenberg Paul Giamatti’s Miles suffers from the same ailments but has the ability to turn off his depression to correlate like a regular person. Greenberg wears his self hatred like a badge on his down-filled vest.
Greta Gerwig a veteran of those formerly-labelled mumblecore films is delightful as Florence, a striking beauty demurely hidden behind a dressed down appearance and her character's insecurity issues. Though why she is attracted to Greenberg in the first place is a fabrication too far-reaching for us to understand. It’s the same annoyance I get when Woody Allen casts likes of Winona Ryder or even Diane Keaton or Mariel Hemingway as his romantic co-stars. Manhattan, this is not.
This indulgence of Baumbach’s is the most difficult to hurdle. While Miles in Sideways, could be oddly charming and self-effacing in an attractive way, Greenberg is an annoying shit from beginning to end, causing us to wonder why he was released from the hospital in the first place. The two hook up on their second encounter, and with little small talk or flirting Greenberg kisses Florence and then moves to heavy-petting and oral sex in a matter of seconds. The Florences of this world do not take their panties off for grossly underweight released-released mental rehab patients.
Baumbach’s dialogue and Harris Savides’s observant and unobtrusive cinematography create the same kind of naturalism as in Squid and Margot. Unfortunately the naturalism of tone doesn’t match the ridiculous progression of Greenberg’s relationship with Florence.
As mentioned, the film finally hits its gear in the third act during a rambunctious party of 20 year olds his niece holds at the house. Greenberg is offered and partakes in some lines of coke and turns into a twitchy party monster. Stiller also comes alive believably exaggerating his character’s personality ticks to great effect. As Greenberg bounces about the party and tries to fit in with kids half his age, we finally get to see him in his former glory and why his fall from grace could have caused such severe depression.
And in the end, his dramatic confession to both himself and Florence is cleverly set up and executed. But is it all worth it to be pummelled with pretentious and overly indulgent characters we despise in order to find the heart of the film at the end. I’d say, a reluctant yes.
"Greenberg" is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Alliance Films in Canada
Thursday, 14 February 2008
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
Margot at the Wedding (2007) Dir Noah Baumbach
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ciaran Hinds, John Turturro
***1/2
Though I liked very much "The Squid and the Whale", "Margot at the Wedding" turned me off. For no particularly good reason the trailer seemed to be talking down to me. I sensed an intellectual superiority or distancing from the audience. It turns out my instincts were wrong, Noah's "Squid" follow up is a thoroughly entertaining film - a trainwreck of a film to be sure, but fine character study of sibling rivalry.
Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a 'famous' short story author. She and her son Claude travel to “the Hamptons" - cottage country for the New York rich and famous - to visit her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is marrying slacker music-snob Malcolm (Jack Black). On the visit, the sisters clash on various issues– mainly Margot's disapproval of Malcolm as her prospective husband. But latent conflicts from childhood resurface and it becomes a bloody battle of psychological warfare, where no one, including the children, is spared the wounds.
"Margot" teeters on the edge of truth and pretension. At the beginning Baumbach puts up an impenetrable front. When we first meet Malcolm, he’s sporting an ironic hipster moustache, but he’s self-aware of it as well, and so tells everyone it's temporary. Even Margot’s young boy Claude is dressed up and coifed like a Metosexual. They play a highly competitive game of Crochet and Margot climbs a tree for no apparent reason. This random intellectual irony I feared from the trailer.
The dialogue was difficult to understand and get into as well. The characters don't speak like movie characters, but they don't speak like real people either – at least not the people I know. But that's ok, because once I got into the groove of the film it hooked me in and dragged me along its rocky course. The situations and issues I’m familiar with, and so once the characters are properly identified, the dialogue becomes as natural as everyday conversation.
Though we only see a weekend in the life of these characters Baumbach manages to show us generations of emotional baggage, going back at least three generations. Though we never meet Margot and Pauline’s parents, their mother and sister are referred to often. I'm sure an alternate film following these characters around for a couple days would result in similar self-destruction.
Saying Margot is a 'flawed' character is an understatement. She's a royal bitch, actually. She talks to and treats her son like an adult. It's terribly annoying. She even plays child-stunting mind games with him - the same games she plays with her sister, and likely the same games her mother played with her. This scolding disaffection comes from deep-rooted emotions which are revealed throughout the film. Sibling envy is one, career anxiety another, loss of identity, aging etc. It’s a layered performance from Kidman and one of her best. While she’s being a cold-hearted bitch, and though we never sympathize with her, we do identify with her emotions.
The great cinematographer Harris Savides (‘Elephant’) shot the film. He compliments the emotions with a cold, lonely and isolating visual design. Despite living on expensive property, the home feels dreary and depressing. He uses a muted colour palette and unflattering wide angle close-ups. It adds to up dogma-like realism.
Baumbach uses a few clever visual metaphors to hit his point on the head. There’s a recurring subplot of an aging tree in the backyard which becomes significant thematically at the end. And the final moments on the bus (and clever reference to “The Graduate”) is not subtle either. But both moments provide the satisfying closure I didn’t think I would get.
So don’t judge a film by its trailer. “Margot at the Wedding” made me look naïve for initially dismissing like fine little gem. Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Comments
(
Atom
)