Film No. 75 (2015) October 17th. 10.45 AM LUNA Leederville.
"Well if you walk south, there is a lazer hair removal centre that's very hip, I did the waiting room". (Brook (Gerwig) describes the venue of her most recent interior decorating design).
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have a following when it comes to New Wave, stream of consciousness through dialogue cinema. The very entertaining Frances Ha highlighted the talents of Gerwig as she gave us an edgy, insecure Frances through Baumach's script and direction. I was part of an excited crowd waiting to see what Mistress America would bring.
For me Mistress America doesn't quite reach the heights Frances Ha took me to. Gerwig's Brooke is every bit as unique as Frances but is certainly not as likable. In fact it is hard to get a beat on who Brooke really is, full stop. And like Frances, Brooke is the heartbeat of the film, even if Lola Kirke's Tracy is the voice describing this chapter in her life.
Gerwig and Kirke do an excellent job of bringing Brooke and Tracy to life and it's fun watching the relationship develop between them,with the younger Tracy at first hanging on every word and deed of Brooke's. As Tracy spends more time with Brooke she sees how she can use the relationship to her own advantage and this leads to the films denouement.
So what does all that mean? It means that for Mistress America Gerwig and Baumbach have teamed up to create a script which takes Tracy on a coming of age journey. It's the uniqueness of Tracy's journey with the self absorbed but articulate Brooke that holds our interest because we can never predict what is coming next. The scene where one of Brooke's old school acquaintances fronts her in a bar sums up all that is Brooke and it could become one of those all time classic scenes. A testament to Gerwig and Baumbach's writing skills.
8GUMS
For me Mistress America doesn't quite reach the heights Frances Ha took me to. Gerwig's Brooke is every bit as unique as Frances but is certainly not as likable. In fact it is hard to get a beat on who Brooke really is, full stop. And like Frances, Brooke is the heartbeat of the film, even if Lola Kirke's Tracy is the voice describing this chapter in her life.
Gerwig and Kirke do an excellent job of bringing Brooke and Tracy to life and it's fun watching the relationship develop between them,with the younger Tracy at first hanging on every word and deed of Brooke's. As Tracy spends more time with Brooke she sees how she can use the relationship to her own advantage and this leads to the films denouement.
So what does all that mean? It means that for Mistress America Gerwig and Baumbach have teamed up to create a script which takes Tracy on a coming of age journey. It's the uniqueness of Tracy's journey with the self absorbed but articulate Brooke that holds our interest because we can never predict what is coming next. The scene where one of Brooke's old school acquaintances fronts her in a bar sums up all that is Brooke and it could become one of those all time classic scenes. A testament to Gerwig and Baumbach's writing skills.
8GUMS
No comments:
Post a Comment