Noah Baumbach is baum-back with his first directorial effort since Greenberg came out three years ago to moderately positive reviews, with some division among those who found it fantastic and others who found it insufferable. I happened to find it kind of fantastic. Baumbach has a way of creating these characters who should not be the least bit sympathetic and he makes them just sympathetic enough to be interesting while remaining endlessly frustrating. But in that movie the Greenberg character was balanced out magnificently by Greta Gerwig, whose performance as Florence is probably just as sad but for entirely different reasons.
Baumbach and Gerwig are reteaming for a Gerwig-centered story, that is, she is the lead as well as the co-writer along with Baumbach, in Frances Ha. Reasons I am excited for this movie include: the featured presence of the always wonderful Greta Gerwig as this dancer character who seems weird and fun; the trailer, which introduces a rather different look and tone for a Baumbach film, being shot in black and white and having a rhythm that seems like a stark departure; and other things, not least of which the participation of Adam Driver of Girls fame, who is hopefully on his way to becoming a weird kind of indie movie star because there’s simply no one else like him, for better or for worse. This one’s set for a release on May 17th.
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