FRANCES HA - 2012
Directed by Noah Baumbach (Audio clip)
Starring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Esper, Adam Driver, Michael Zegan, Charlotte D’Amboise, and Grace Gummer
Genre: Aspirational Comedy
When did Noah Baumbach become such a humanist director? 🤔 Or maybe he was the whole time and I just didn't realize it? I liked his 1995 directorial debut Kicking and Screaming, sorta liked The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg....but all three films seemed to have a coldness about them that I found unsettling at times, as if he really didn't like these characters and had them predestined to be miserable. But then I saw Marriage Story and in that film, it felt as if he had an enormous amount of affection for his two leads (which makes sense since it was semi-autobiographical about Baumbach's own divorce) despite what they were going through - Marriage Story is definitely one of the great relationship dramas of recent years and here I was thinking that it was a new start for Baumbach.
But I hadn't seen this, it came out six years before Marriage Story - it's black-and-white and much smaller in scale. It's also a much different type of story about an aimless dancer in NYC trying to find some stability in her life as she's dealing with her best friend getting engaged, being perpetually broke, not sure about how to manage her career, and even unsure about the type of person she wants to be on her own. The dancer is Frances and is played by Greta Gerwig in a fantastic performance, probably one of her last before she would go on to be the accomplished director she has become today.
For the entire 85 minute running time, we follow Frances on a series of misadventures as we often seeing her saying and doing the wrong things...and the film never seems to judge her for that. It’s OK to be falling on your face a bit when you're 27, living in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, and trying to build a career in the fine arts - what's so refreshing about Frances' story and the way this is all presented is that you never get the sense that Baumbach or Gerwig (who co-wrote this movie) are pushing her character into any particular narrative direction whether it be success, failure, or simply self-discovery. Frances is aimless but she's not hopeless – one outdoor sequence early in the film demonstrates this perfectly and it relates to music, I’ll get to that one a bit later.
Frances Ha came out about ten years ago but even from that perspective, it feels a bit like a throwback to the '90's when independent cinema was still at least TRYING to tell fun and relatable stories....often about similar characters in their '20's struggling to find their ways into adulthood - Party Girl, Swingers, Welcome to the Dollhouse, even Baumbach's own Kicking and Screaning to a certain extent - and while these films didn't often have conventionally happy endings, they weren't nihilistic in that A24 way either. :o Not everything was being figured out or accomplished by the time the credits rolled but there was the sense that our protagonists still had time...and there was still hope. That's this film in a nutshell: seemingly aimless but never hopeless. ;)
Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
This category is just a no-brainer. As I alluded to earlier, there’s a scene early in the film when the camera follows Frances joyously running and then dancing through the streets of SoHo to a rousing pop song from the late, great David Bowie. There’s no real narrative purpose to this scene except to show our lead protagonist reveling in her youth….actually that’s what makes it relevant.
The song is “Modern Love” from Bowie’s 1983 smash album “Let’s Dance” and I can recall it personally being one of my earliest introductions to this pop icon as this song was both a radio and MTV staple at the time. Of course, it goes without saying that it’s DAMN catchy – both bombastic and fast-paced and with such a attention-grabbing opening no less which kicks off with a few distinct guitar riffs coming from the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn no less. We even hear a reprieve of this song for the closing credits where those opening riffs land even more effectively. But its signature use is still during that street sequence – even though the type of dancing we see from Frances doesn’t remotely match the pace of the music, that contrast just makes it work all the more better. What can I say...I'm a sucker for transcendent dance sequences!
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
Even though there is relatively little plot to this movie, there is an inciting incident which pretty much kicks off the story as the film starts off with Frances being inseparable from her true blue best friend Sophie played by Mickey Sumner. Not long after, we find out that Sophie has just gotten engaged to her long-time boyfriend and as a result, they will now be moving to France….which sets off an ongoing personal crisis for Frances as she starts to feel lost without her best friend, struggling to settle into a new routine or even find a reliable home as they were roommates. Sumner rejoins the story periodically a few times and I have to say that she’s REALLY good, leaving her mark even with limited screentime – we see a subtle progression with her character each time she reappears, as if she’s gradually maturing from the fun-loving playmate she came off as early on via a montage when we watch running all around Manhattan with Frances making trouble.
It's a strong performance with intelligence and heart….and while I wouldn’t say that Sumner is wasted in this particular movie, it DID have me wondering why we haven’t seen as much from her since this movie. She’s mostly acted in other projects directed by Baumbach since then – including Marriage Story – but not much else. I have no idea why but I just would have liked to have seen more from this actress.
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
There is one dinner party sequence about halfway through when she's sitting among people who are all more successful and more settled with their lives. Frances starts to go off on a tangent about her circles of friendship including her best friend Sophie who she misses terribly. Watching Gerwig talking in loops about this stuff while everyone around her just responds awkwardly...yes it's the kind of scene we have seen many times before and it's played for both laughs and pathos effectively. But Gerwig just plays it with such a level of sincerity and self-awareness that you can't help but see where she's coming from - this scene doesn't culminate into anything dramatic, it's just an honest portrayal of someone struggling with adulthood.
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
From all accounts, this film was a TRUE collaboration between Noah Baumbach and Greta Gurwig and it all shows on screen. Gurwig appears in literally every scene but her character is well-integrated into the story as we see all facets of this character, even the less appealing ones….the dialogue is always on point, every actor comes off as natural often given opportunities to improvise….the pacing is brisk, and the whole setting feels contemporary despite all being filmed in black and white. As a director, Baumbach is often making interesting choices and he was apparently very inspired by French New Wave cinema which shows in how he not only uses long takes for some key sequences (including that street dance) but also some unexpected edits to transition between scenes and/or introducing new characters. The whole loose feel of this film very much coincides with both Frances as a character and Gerwig’s naturalistic performance.
Gerwig and Baumbach were apparently a match made in heaven as they would not only go on to collaborate on future films, including the sci fi thriller White Noise which will be coming out later this year but they would also go on to be married. I honestly consider this to be career-best work for Gerwig in front of the camera and Baumbach behind the camera….and for that reason, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are your CO-MVP’s.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Frances Ha is just the sort of charming independent gem that we just don’t see much of nowadays….a TRUE small-scale, character-based COMEDY. We NEED more films like this….smaller, independent films don’t have to ALWAYS be grim or unflinching even though that seems to be the general trend with smaller indie labels nowadays like A24 or Neon. If you haven’t yet seen it, by all means give it a watch and hopefully you’ll be as charmed by it as I was.
Streaming on AMC+, The Roku Channel, The Criterion Channel, and kanopy
And that ends another AIMLESS review
Directed by Noah Baumbach (Audio clip)
Starring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Esper, Adam Driver, Michael Zegan, Charlotte D’Amboise, and Grace Gummer
Genre: Aspirational Comedy
When did Noah Baumbach become such a humanist director? 🤔 Or maybe he was the whole time and I just didn't realize it? I liked his 1995 directorial debut Kicking and Screaming, sorta liked The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg....but all three films seemed to have a coldness about them that I found unsettling at times, as if he really didn't like these characters and had them predestined to be miserable. But then I saw Marriage Story and in that film, it felt as if he had an enormous amount of affection for his two leads (which makes sense since it was semi-autobiographical about Baumbach's own divorce) despite what they were going through - Marriage Story is definitely one of the great relationship dramas of recent years and here I was thinking that it was a new start for Baumbach.
But I hadn't seen this, it came out six years before Marriage Story - it's black-and-white and much smaller in scale. It's also a much different type of story about an aimless dancer in NYC trying to find some stability in her life as she's dealing with her best friend getting engaged, being perpetually broke, not sure about how to manage her career, and even unsure about the type of person she wants to be on her own. The dancer is Frances and is played by Greta Gerwig in a fantastic performance, probably one of her last before she would go on to be the accomplished director she has become today.
For the entire 85 minute running time, we follow Frances on a series of misadventures as we often seeing her saying and doing the wrong things...and the film never seems to judge her for that. It’s OK to be falling on your face a bit when you're 27, living in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, and trying to build a career in the fine arts - what's so refreshing about Frances' story and the way this is all presented is that you never get the sense that Baumbach or Gerwig (who co-wrote this movie) are pushing her character into any particular narrative direction whether it be success, failure, or simply self-discovery. Frances is aimless but she's not hopeless – one outdoor sequence early in the film demonstrates this perfectly and it relates to music, I’ll get to that one a bit later.
Frances Ha came out about ten years ago but even from that perspective, it feels a bit like a throwback to the '90's when independent cinema was still at least TRYING to tell fun and relatable stories....often about similar characters in their '20's struggling to find their ways into adulthood - Party Girl, Swingers, Welcome to the Dollhouse, even Baumbach's own Kicking and Screaning to a certain extent - and while these films didn't often have conventionally happy endings, they weren't nihilistic in that A24 way either. :o Not everything was being figured out or accomplished by the time the credits rolled but there was the sense that our protagonists still had time...and there was still hope. That's this film in a nutshell: seemingly aimless but never hopeless. ;)
Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
This category is just a no-brainer. As I alluded to earlier, there’s a scene early in the film when the camera follows Frances joyously running and then dancing through the streets of SoHo to a rousing pop song from the late, great David Bowie. There’s no real narrative purpose to this scene except to show our lead protagonist reveling in her youth….actually that’s what makes it relevant.
The song is “Modern Love” from Bowie’s 1983 smash album “Let’s Dance” and I can recall it personally being one of my earliest introductions to this pop icon as this song was both a radio and MTV staple at the time. Of course, it goes without saying that it’s DAMN catchy – both bombastic and fast-paced and with such a attention-grabbing opening no less which kicks off with a few distinct guitar riffs coming from the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn no less. We even hear a reprieve of this song for the closing credits where those opening riffs land even more effectively. But its signature use is still during that street sequence – even though the type of dancing we see from Frances doesn’t remotely match the pace of the music, that contrast just makes it work all the more better. What can I say...I'm a sucker for transcendent dance sequences!
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
Even though there is relatively little plot to this movie, there is an inciting incident which pretty much kicks off the story as the film starts off with Frances being inseparable from her true blue best friend Sophie played by Mickey Sumner. Not long after, we find out that Sophie has just gotten engaged to her long-time boyfriend and as a result, they will now be moving to France….which sets off an ongoing personal crisis for Frances as she starts to feel lost without her best friend, struggling to settle into a new routine or even find a reliable home as they were roommates. Sumner rejoins the story periodically a few times and I have to say that she’s REALLY good, leaving her mark even with limited screentime – we see a subtle progression with her character each time she reappears, as if she’s gradually maturing from the fun-loving playmate she came off as early on via a montage when we watch running all around Manhattan with Frances making trouble.
It's a strong performance with intelligence and heart….and while I wouldn’t say that Sumner is wasted in this particular movie, it DID have me wondering why we haven’t seen as much from her since this movie. She’s mostly acted in other projects directed by Baumbach since then – including Marriage Story – but not much else. I have no idea why but I just would have liked to have seen more from this actress.
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
There is one dinner party sequence about halfway through when she's sitting among people who are all more successful and more settled with their lives. Frances starts to go off on a tangent about her circles of friendship including her best friend Sophie who she misses terribly. Watching Gerwig talking in loops about this stuff while everyone around her just responds awkwardly...yes it's the kind of scene we have seen many times before and it's played for both laughs and pathos effectively. But Gerwig just plays it with such a level of sincerity and self-awareness that you can't help but see where she's coming from - this scene doesn't culminate into anything dramatic, it's just an honest portrayal of someone struggling with adulthood.
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
From all accounts, this film was a TRUE collaboration between Noah Baumbach and Greta Gurwig and it all shows on screen. Gurwig appears in literally every scene but her character is well-integrated into the story as we see all facets of this character, even the less appealing ones….the dialogue is always on point, every actor comes off as natural often given opportunities to improvise….the pacing is brisk, and the whole setting feels contemporary despite all being filmed in black and white. As a director, Baumbach is often making interesting choices and he was apparently very inspired by French New Wave cinema which shows in how he not only uses long takes for some key sequences (including that street dance) but also some unexpected edits to transition between scenes and/or introducing new characters. The whole loose feel of this film very much coincides with both Frances as a character and Gerwig’s naturalistic performance.
Gerwig and Baumbach were apparently a match made in heaven as they would not only go on to collaborate on future films, including the sci fi thriller White Noise which will be coming out later this year but they would also go on to be married. I honestly consider this to be career-best work for Gerwig in front of the camera and Baumbach behind the camera….and for that reason, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are your CO-MVP’s.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Frances Ha is just the sort of charming independent gem that we just don’t see much of nowadays….a TRUE small-scale, character-based COMEDY. We NEED more films like this….smaller, independent films don’t have to ALWAYS be grim or unflinching even though that seems to be the general trend with smaller indie labels nowadays like A24 or Neon. If you haven’t yet seen it, by all means give it a watch and hopefully you’ll be as charmed by it as I was.
Streaming on AMC+, The Roku Channel, The Criterion Channel, and kanopy
And that ends another AIMLESS review
