Greenberg

I went and saw Greenberg tonight. When I purchased the ticket, the lady asked me, "Just one?" as if I were buying a single ticket to Dear John or something. I have wanted to see this movie for a while, mostly because of my casual interest with Noah Baumbach and my more than casual interest with Greta Gerwig. I was really feeling a movie tonight, so truthfully I would been pretty forgiving of just about anything I went and saw. That being said, Greenberg was pretty good.

I went into the movie with kind of low hopes. While I did want to see it, the trailers didn't really do anything for me. I thought the dialogue sounded kind of overly clever. I'd heard people, including Ben Stiller, compare it to a seventies movie, and I thought, "come on." Just because a film has a somewhat unlikeable protagonist doesn't mean you need to talk about Hal Ashby all the time. Then when the film started, I shut up because yeah, it did kind of remind me of a seventies movie. Greenberg reminded of that particular era of filmmaking not so much because of the (slight) narrative similarities, but because of technical factors. The editing, which was, thankfully, not interested in continuity of motion, and the opening credits of the film were nice and unexpected after seeing the trailer. I also enjoyed the use of the zoom, which is something that people are starting to use more, and I have to say, I fully support. Zoom it up, baby. The film looks really pretty, which is always good.

There was only one scene in the film that reminded me of what I expected from the trailer, and that was one of the worst parts of the trailer as well. The scene in which Roger Greenberg interacts with several younger partygoers and talks about how olllllllddddddd he is. This scene went on for a while, and was the only time that I thought Baumbach's dialogue really felt writerly and forced. However, this scene is followed by a really nice scene with Greenberg and his friend, Ivan. The interaction between Greenberg and Ivan was one of my favorite parts of the film. There was an appropriate amount of it, and it felt pretty authentic.

Now to the Gerwig stuff. Was she good? Yes. Did she get naked? Would you expect anything less from her? All jokes aside, the lady gets naked in nearly every movie she's in. Her character was interesting and wasn't too much of a pixie dream girl, which the trailer kind of implied. It was nice to see a strong independent lady up there, not looking for relationships and having casual sex. Good for you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Greenberg was enjoyable. Don't be put off by the trailer. It felt much more natural than I thought it would, and Ben Stiller does a great job of keeping his character believable. If you have really wanted to go see a movie, and it's a Monday night and you're alone, I can think of nothing better to do.

Hannah Takes the Stairs

This weekend H. and I watched Hannah Takes the Stairs, renamed Hannah Who Cares? by Alex. It's yet another entry in the unfortunately-named genre known as mumblecore (ugh, who writes this stuff?). Greta Gerwig plays the titular Hannah, and she's pretty titular if you know what I mean (I'm trying to awkwardly say she is always taking her top off). I was surprised at how much weird, non-necessary nudity was in this movie. Not that I was offended, because who cares, but the movie began with a shower scene and ended with a bathtub scene (I get what you're doing there, Swanberg).
The actual movie itself was really boring, which is hardly a damning critique coming from me. I've been known to enjoy a boring movie in my time, and I enjoyed this one well enough. Mostly I was just frustrated though. A lot of filmmakers are involved in this movie--Andrew Bujalski (weird dude of my dreams), a Duplass Bro., Todd Rohal--but I really can't figure out how so many people could work on a movie with so little going on. The plot is pretty much this: Hannah breaks up with her boyfriend, starts dating another guy, sleeps with his best friend, ends the movie playing the trumpet in a bathtub with said dude. Which is fine. Whatever. Great movies have consisted of less. I guess what turns me off so much is the air of importance that this movie has. Like Hannah's quest for happiness is so noble or unique, when we all know that it's not. Near the end of the film she has this insufferable conversation with one of her coworkers (right before they have sex, natch) where she tells him that she feels bad because she's just "using him" to make herself feel better, but he's a real person with problems and she shouldn't just turn to him for an unburdened good time! Welcome to Things We All Figured Out When We Were Twelve.
And, honestly, I can't get behind any character who would dump not just a Duplass Bro. but Andrew Bujalski (who just can't catch/write himself a break). She's tossing aside independent filmmakers like they're her clothing or something. We should all be so lucky. H. was not at all impressed by Andrew Bujalski, but I've always found him quite charming! I know he's kind of funny looking (and he has very hairy legs, as we find out) but he always comes across as sweetly vulnerable and nice.

I'm just saying. I know which one I'd pick.
There were a lot of things I didn't like about this movie, but I'm glad it exists. It's nice that someone can make a low-budget movie in a month with their friends and then have that movie shown all over the world. More people should do that! I just hope they're, you know, a little more interesting.