Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)

johnny_ultimate

After enjoying much love from international audiences and critics, Noah Baumbach's latest is released here on Friday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBn5dgXFMis

Colour (or black & white) me long-since excited. Baumbach's post-Squid and the Whale works has been intriguing if uneven, but early word is encouraging, and the favourable comparisons to Manhattan being tossed around also fill me enthusiasm.

Also pretty excited about seeing Greta Gerwig finally given the opportunity to so prominently lead. Easily one of the most talented young actresses working in American cinema today, if only irregularly given the material she deserves. After being easily the best thing about Greenberg, happy to see Baumbach give her centerstage.

Amirani

I'm looking forward to seeing this. Good write up in today's Irish Times.

Interview with Gerwig: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/greta-gerwig-the-coolest-actress-on-the-planet-1.1474800

Donald Clarke's review: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/frances-ha-1.1474880

johnny_ultimate

Saw it earlier. I was very much looking forward to it, but I'm still a little taken aback at how much I actually loved it, pretty unconditionally.

This is the film Noah Baumbach has always had the potential to make, and the character that Greta Gerwig always had in her. It's just such delightfully honest portrait of a woman that is charming, perky, frustrating, annoying and likeable - all in equal measure. Her interactions with other characters are overflowing with wit and credibility: I can't think of many films that offer dialogue that flows so smoothly and naturally. 'Realistic' is a dangerous word to use when it comes to cinema, but the film was beautifully down to Earth, a successful hybrid of the romance of cinema and the routine of everyday life.

It all creeps up on you too, as the emotional peaks and troughs occur with little fanfare, instead allowed to occur with their own pace and drama

(how heartbreaking and poignant is the Paris trip?)

. I found myself completely emotionally involved by the end, and honestly I could have spent another few hours with Frances and her various companions (although as is the film barely wastes a frame, one of its many admirable traits). I initially thought the ending felt a bit rushed, but I think it makes a lot of sense given where our protagonist was mentally and emotionally at following the film's events.

It's a really fun little reversal that in a way she ends up one of the most well-adjusted and promising of a neurotic lot. At the very least, here's a happy ending where I felt delighted for a character's semi-bright future

.

The black & white photography is fine & nostalgic, if a little perfunctory. I can easily see many dismissing it as slight (although it didn't fall into many of the traps of smugness that can plague a lot of 'middle class white New York' productions, though, and treats its characters with respect even when sneaking in a few good-natured digs at their more ridiculous traits). What can I say though, I just thought it was an absolute delight.

losthorizon

Never judge a film by a trailer but that looks fantastic. I would love love to see it in the cinema but what are the chances it will turn up at the local flea pit?:(

Mickeroo

Squid & the Whale is a favourite of mine and I even thought Greenberg was half decent too. hell I didn't even mind Margot at the Wedding too much.

Would love to go see this but not a hope in hell of it screening around these parts.

Thankfully these kinds of films are pretty quick to show up on Netflix so hopefully won't have too long to wait.

johnny_ultimate

I liked most of his earlier films to varying degrees too (still think Kicking & Screaming is fantastic particularly). But this is IMO a real step above. It's hard to describe, but as much as I appreciated the likes of The Squid & The Whale, they always lacked that undefinable something to definitively sink their teeth in. Frances Ha for me has that spark, just that extra dimension that truly pulled me in and blurred my more objective capacities. Maybe it was Gerwig, maybe it was Baumbach finally marrying his witty cinemaspeak with a more natural level of dialogue. Whatever, all I know is I left the cinema with a smile on my face.

Amirani

Going to try catch this later on today at some point. Johnny's review has me even more excited than I was before.

Amirani

I caught the afternoon showing of this at The Lighthouse yesterday and really enjoyed it. It's a really great character portrait of character that's obviously troubled but interesting and engaging at the same time. It really is all about the character (Frances is in every scene), and how she tries to reconcile her ambitions with the pragmatism that all the characters around her are encouraging her to embrace. It's a really poignant process, superbly acted by Gerwig.

I personally loved the black and white colour scheme that the film was shown in. I think it really added to the mood of the situation, reflecting the relatively sombre nature of Frances' situation. I know this isn't for everyone though (the person I went along with didn't really like this at all). Overall it's a really quaint film that had me leaving the cinema with an intangible sort of satisfaction at the whole process that I'd just witnessed. I'd definitely recommend it.

johnny_ultimate

I definitely think the black & white suits the mood & tone of the film while acting as a respectful nod to some of Baumbach's inspirations. Technically speaking, I don't think there's a whole lot to it - certainly after having seen Manhattan a few weeks ago on the same screen, Frances Ha is hardly on the same level in terms of memorable imagery. But, again, its almost as if the film's straightforward modesty is one of its most defining traits. It's pared back, intelligent and thoughtful, and that works wonders.

delbertgrady

I thought it was a joy from start to finish. Greta Gerwig has got to be one of the most effortlessly likeable screen presences of modern cinema, and I could have happily sat through a film twice the duration. Cynics will sneer and say that not enough happens or that Frances herself needs a bloody good shake. I disagree. It's one of the best cinematic portrayals of a close friendship and also brilliantly manages to convey that whole Little Girl Lost element. This doesn't spoil anything, but the shot of her going up the escalator at the airport in Sacramento alone was stunning. Gerwig has an underlying sadness to her expressiveness that makes Frances incredibly endearing as a character.

Now, clearly, the "Woody Allen as directed by John Cassavetes" style is not going to be for everyone. Six people walked out of the screening I was at; three sets of couples. One pair after a mere ten minutes (God knows what they expected it to be like if they gave up on it so quickly), another about ten minutes later and the final pair around the forty-five minute mark.

Decuc500

I really enjoyed this too. It was such an appealing performance from Greta Gerwig, you were really rooting for her character to have a happy ending.

There was one exhilarating moment when Frances was running carefree through New York waving to people on the street to the pumping soundtrack, a really cool cinematic moment. I’d imagine the film was shot quickly, it seemed so immediate and impromptu.

Also great to see Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips from the quintessential New York band Luna appear in a dinner party scene.

delbertgrady

Decuc500 wrote: »

There was one exhilarating moment when Frances was running carefree through New York waving to people on the street to the pumping soundtrack, a really cool cinematic moment.

Yeah. That was great. Things like that have been done to death in movies (let's get a classic song and underscore a little sequence), but here it was like it was being done for the first time.
The more I think about the film, the more I love it.

LuckyLloyd

Finally caught this in the Screen this afternoon. Have to echo the sentiment here, I loved it. Gerwig is phenomenal and the dialogue is sharp and wonderfully real throughout. There is some fun poked at the New York aspiring twenty something 'scene' and the not quite yet fully formed adults that inhabit it, but just the right amount. That had been described to me as the focus of the film and I was glad it was just the backdrop.

Mickeroo

Saw this in the Triskel in Cork yesterday afternoon. Like everyone above I really loved it too. Easily Baumbach's best film along with Squid and the Whale. Gerwig is great in the role, it's easily a character the viewer could have ended up hating but her performance keeps us firmly rooting for Frances all the way through. I found the ending unexpectedly moving also. Go see it while it's still around.

I don't know if it was just because I watched Manhattan for the first time a couple of weeks ago or because this was in B&W and set in New York (some of the musical queues were similar too imo) but I couldn't help but be reminded of that film at times, in a good way though.

adox

Just a heads up, this is on US Netflix. Gonna give it a watch now.

Frank Lee Midere

The comparisons to Manhatten are only partly apt. This really didn't show off Manhatten to any real advantage in terms of cinematography. The conversations were natural, modern, unpretentious and largely inarticulate. Even stilted.

Manhatten's conversations were literary, philosophical, Freudian and articulate. I have no idea whether that level of conversation was "natural" then or not.

Frances read a lot but didn't articulate what she read. The only scene that might have resembled Manhatten was the dinner scene but Frances was goofy in that, her conversation wasn't up to scratch.

In many ways the anti-Manhatten.

I like em both however.

longshotvalue

I just watched this and Black and White just looked stunning on a projector, id love more of that. As for the film its class in every respect. The Lead is a revelation for me..

mrsdewinter

Just watched this on Netflix, and I loved it. I was fully prepared to hate GG's character but to see her character develop over the course of the movie is a treat.

johnny_ultimate

Now make sure to get down a cinema screening Mistress America ASAP

Looper007

I have Frances Ha on DVD for ages but I've yet to watch it. I loved some of Baumbach past films, especially Greenberg and The Squid and the Whale. Although I wasn't blown away with While We're Young. But I do love the Homage to Leos Carax Mauvais Sang in Frances Ha, with use of Bowie's Modern Love and the dancing.

edit: So caught it on Netflix and have to say I liked it a lot.


It's clearly indebt to French New Wave, from the black and white to the use of music from 400 Blows to namedropping of Jean Pierre Leaud. I would describe it as just imagine if Sally Hawkins character from Happy Go Lucky was transported into a Woody Allen film with French New Waves influences then you get Frances Ha. The film really lives on the casting of Greta Gerwig, cause if she wasn't so likeable this film would fall flat on its face. I can see why some dislike her cause all she's doing in every film is playing Gerwig. But you could throw that at Woody Allen too, he's just playing himself.


Some of the shots in this film (especially in Paris scenes) were beautiful and did evoke early Godard and Truffaut films.

I also loved As the story moves along though, you realize the one you thought was practical (Her friend Sophie) and well-grounded behaves like a lot of women behave. She gradually begins to tolerate her boyfriend, accepts his flaws. She keeps secret, from her best friend, all kinds of important decisions. Is she ashamed?

She ultimately quits that responsible, good job to move to Japan with Patch. Like a lot of women do. She winds up hating Japan, hating her life, and maybe even hating Patch. She misses her life with Frances.

So Frances is the one who gets our easy derision, but really none of her decisions were life-changing. Meanwhile, the realistic, grounded character who has our respect is living a lie.

In the end, Frances comes to terms with the admin job, gets studio time, and finds her moment looking across the room at her 'person.' It is bittersweet because the stupid decisions she made held her back, but at the same time were easily reversed. Plus after the slightly sad Paris and working at her old college as a waitress was slightly downbeat (I found the bit when Frances sitting down without saying a word to a heartbroken college girl rather touching for some reason)

I would put it up there as one of Noah Baumbach best films.