The Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) (2017)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Noah Baumbach
DOP: Robbie Ryan
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller

The adult children of Harold Meyerowitz reunite in New-York for their father's career retrospective.

It is not a solo show but a group display of works by artists from the university where Harold taught. We learn over the course of the film that all the grown-up characters in it are dealing with disappointments in terms of how their career turned out. Harold had gone through several marriages and have three kids from different marriages. While he carries the air of an accomplished artist, especially when dealing with his family, he is himself jealous of his more successful friends in the New-York scene. Adam Sandler's Danny is a stay at home father, a successful one unlike his father, but he is now divorced and struggling. Ben Stiller plays Matthew, a successful personal wealth manager and his father's favourite kid, and he is himself disappointed that him not being an artist diminishes his standing in the family. Harold is now married to Maureen (Emma Thompson), an alcoholic. The retrospective and father's health issues brings all the kids together and the film largely deals with that situation, after having two chapters leading up to it to establish the characters.

The earlier dialogues from the film will sound very exposition like and you later realize that it is justifiable because of Harold's many marriages and physical and emotional distance between the characters. It is a typical Noah Baumbach film and should be a great watch if you are a fan of his like I am. It has a very different look from previous films of his and it is no surprise that it is his first collaboration with Robbie Ryan.  It is also his third film with Ben Stiller and got to say it is a very Ben Stiller role for him. Good to see Adam Sandler doing something worthy so soon after Punch Drunk Love.

Rating: 4/5

Mistress America (2015)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writers:  Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Cast:       Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Seth Barrish

A lonely college freshman's (Lola Kirke) life is turned upside down by her impetuous, adventurous soon-to-be stepsister (Greta Gerwig). 

I still consider Noah Baumbach to be an up and coming director, even though he is 46 now, and it might be to do with the age of characters that are in his films off late. I don't need to read a synopsis to decide whether to watch his film or not and did the same for Mistress America. Its his second film this year after the excellent 'While We're Young' and you can see traces of its hipster commentary on this one as well even though it is much more on 'Social Media Influencer' types. Film got plenty of laughs and the nature of its humor is not as dark as it is usually in his other films. It also do kind of a twist without making you feel that it is a twist at all. We are shown initially that the freshman character is enamored by much older Greta Gerwig character even though it turns out at the end that the former was using/manipulating the latter as a subject matter for her story. Since it doesn't do it with bells and whistles, some may be put off by the director not explicitly stating things. The frequency of laughs kind of make you almost feel like you are watching a slap-stick comedy and I am sure that I have missed some of them on first watch. Greta Gerwig is very much Baumbach's muse and she also co-wrote the film like she did for 'Frances Ha'. 

It is a great watch and you won't probably see a better comedy film than it this year. I do think it will be liked by even those who are not particularly a fan of Baumbach. It is another one of his films that is set in New-York with the typical Woody Allensque color scheme and that is always a good thing. Performances are excellent but it does kind of get farcical towards the end when that confrontation scene happens between the two main characters. Got to say, on the whole, I enjoyed Mistress America more than While We're Young but both of them are great.

Rating: 4.5/5

While We're Young (2014)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer:    Noah Baumbach
Cast:       Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver

A middle-aged couple's career and marriage are overturned when a disarming young couple enters their lives. Film starts with this forties couple meeting their recently turned parents friends and realizing that they are not the same people anymore. They don't have kids and have come to terms with it. Josh (Ben Stiller), the husband in the couple, is a struggling documentary maker and he meets the young post-modern couple in one of his classes. They think they can relate more to these 25-year- olds rather than their usual friends. Over the course of the film they realize that things are not really what they seem, like you would expect from this sort of premise, but it does go out about it in such a fashion that it is quite hard to describe what it is.

One can also see this as a protest from Baumbach about the recent trend in documentary film-making (Catfish, HBO documentary on Robert Durst) where they mix facts with fiction to make the narrative interesting. I personally don't have too many problems with it, very much like almost all other characters in this film apart from Josh. The dynamics and power-play along with frustrations in their relationship are very subtly played out and Baumbach doesn't attempt to make it as if he is making it to be about some central point. The couple don't have that epiphany at the end to change their ways but they do indeed decide to adopt a child at the end, which is again a sort of 'black' humor from the director. 

The documentary film that Josh is making is I think a reference to Woody Allen film 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'. I am a fan of Noah Baumbach's work and he is someone who mixes Woody Allen with early Wes Anderson. This film is more of the former than the latter and ends with David Bowie's 'Golden Years' playing during the closing credits. It is a great watch and my favorite work of his is 'Frances Ha'. 

Rating: 4/5

                                                                       

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer:    Noah Baumbach
Cast:       Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black

Margot is a successful writer who is intelligent and can be very condescending. She is visiting the home she grew up in with her son to attend her sister Pauline's wedding with whom she has not talked for some time. She is  not impressed by the groom and starts what others consider to be meddling.

The film's tagline is : 'One Family...Infinite degrees of Separation'. They had an abusive father which could have affected their personality growing up. The short stories that Margot writes tend to be autobiographic which is one of the reason for her troubles with Pauline. The very condescending nature of  Margot is evident when she dishes out suggestions to what others should do and she considers herself impervious to irrationality and feelings. There is a scene in which she is having a talk about her book and when the interviewer asks how autobiographical it is about the abusive father in the book, she starts talking about her father. The interviewer then interrupts and says that he meant her as a parent upon which she breaks down realizing how she has come a full circle. The film kind of reminded me of About Schmidt even though the protagonists are complete opposites.

This was Noah Baumbach's second film after his debut feature 'The Squid and the Whale' for which he was nominated at the academy awards. He managed to get the star cast working below their usual pay to do this film. I actually liked this film more than the much more acclaimed Squid and the Whale. 

Rating: 4/5 

Greenberg (2010)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writers:  Jennifer Jason Leigh, Naoh Baumbach
 Cast:     Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Ben Stiller plays Roger Greenberg, a failed musician turned carpenter recovering from a nervous breakdown, who comes to live in his brother's house in LA whilst they are on vacation. Greta Gerwig plays Florence, his brother's assistant, an unsexy and awkward girl in her 20s. Something develops between the two of them but don't expect a usual Stiller comedy as it is very dark and the title character is a bit of a prick.

It is really an intelligent character study about some really awkward characters that won't feel misplaced in a Todd Solondz film. Stiller is playing the role of his career and he looked physically also different with his frailness. Baumbach is certainly one to watch out for. 

Rating: 3.5/5

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer:    Noah Baumbach
Cast:       Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg

Film is about two young boys dealing with the divorce of their intellectual parents set in the 80s. I wondered why the film was set in 80s and it is so because it is based on director Noah Baumbach's experience in his childhood.

Noah Baumbach is a constant collaborator in Wes Anderson films and you can see the same kind of quirkiness in this film. The adult bits in the seemingly family friendly atmosphere is amped up more than in a Wes Anderson film. Over the course of the film, the parents don't grow with them continuing to behave in a thoughtless manner even as the children mature. The brutally honest matter of fact way in which things are explained to the kids is very funny. 

Unlike 'Frances Ha', some of the references thrown in doesn't come off well, especially the one to Godard's 'A bout de Souffle' at the end. Loved seeing 'Blue Velvet' in there.

Rating: 4/5

Frances Ha (2012)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writers:  Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Cast:       Greta Gerwig, Mickey Summer, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen

Frances shares an apartment with Sophie, her best friend, as she tries to make it as a dancer in New-York. As she describes their relationship in the film, they are like a lesbian couple who don't have sex anymore. Film is shot in black and white and it is really like a quirky Woody Allen film.

It is interesting to compare the film with 'Inside Llewyn Davis'. Both tell the story of a struggling artist but deals it in the complete opposite manner. Coens have their protagonist as a jerk whereas Frances is really a nice gal who cares about others. Llewyn's friends are kind of hostile to him while Frances gets some sort of support from her acquaintances. Llewyn wants to never compromise and Frances kind of does it at the end. Both films have their place and I loved both of them. The scene where she dances to David Bowie's 'Modern Love' in the streets of New-York reminded me of a similar scene in Leos Carax's   'Mauvais Sang' with Denis Lavant doing the same in Paris.

Rating: 4.5/5