A
judgmental person would probably tell directionless 27-year-old Frances
(Greta Gerwig) that she ought to get her act together, but she manages
to get by even though she still hasn’t carved out much of a career or
love life like her peers. She seems generally happy--or at least puts
on a brave face--about her apprenticeship at a New York City dance
company and holds out hope that her break might be upcoming. Any
disappointment is easier to take knowing she has the support of her
longtime best friend and roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner).
The
two pals in FRANCES HA are still on good terms when Sophie tells
Frances she doesn’t want to renew the lease for their Brooklyn apartment
because she can get into her dream place in Manhattan. Frances can’t
afford to move there, but she’s pleased Sophie has found what she wants.
Still, the change in living arrangements gradually causes Frances to
examine what her life is, although reflection tends to come when a
particular matter is most urgent, never earlier.
Co-written
by Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach, FRANCES HA provides a sharp,
fleet, and very funny look at female friendship and the acceptance of
adult responsibilities. Gerwig and Sumner are hilarious communicating
in the kind of shorthand that develops between those exceptionally close
and expressing the comfort between Frances and Sophie. Whether it’s
their conversational give-and-take or play-fighting, here are two
friends who are utterly enchanted that they accept and understand one
another on such a deep level. Films tend to portray friendships,
particularly female ones, in terms of competition or utility, but
FRANCES HA depicts one that is formed out of equally supportive
individuals. Like any relationship, theirs will experience the
occasional turbulence, but it’s easy to believe these two will still be
tight decades down the line. The joy and empathy between Frances and
Sophie spill off the screen.
Frances
often makes bad but not fatal choices. She’s perpetually gawky, yet
Gerwig’s endearing performance conveys the character’s ease with herself
and her mistakes, whether she’s putting her feet in her mouth at a
dinner party or falling over them on the sidewalk. Gerwig’s brilliant
stroke is shaping the protagonist’s natural strangeness into something
that is uniquely Frances. She doesn’t exhibit false or manufactured
quirkiness but captures the kind of weirdness that’s different for but
specific to everyone. Behind her owl-like glasses as Sophie, Sumner
makes for an excellent acidic complement to the sweet Frances.
Although
each character in FRANCES HA comes from some level of economic
privilege, money is something constantly at the forefront of Frances’
mind. She isn’t completely broke but is highly conscious of what’s in
(or absent from) her bank account. Baumbach uses the locations and
space to remind of her financial reality, as being aware of one’s
surroundings can be as indicative of status as checking one’s balance.
Sam
Levy’s black-and-white cinematography and Jennifer Lame’s fragmented
editing proudly display FRANCES HA’s French New Wave influences.
Stylistically Baumbach isn’t doing anything new, yet this character
study packed with urbane wit feels foreign and thrilling in comparison
to current trends in film comedy. With a major assist from Gerwig,
Baumbach’s droll examination of aimless adulthood also produces the director's most
inviting film since 1995’s KICKING AND SCREAMING.
Grade: A
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