The mood is melancholy, the road ahead unclear. Which may explain the slew of biographical, autobiographical novels and films in a meandering Proustian fashion that go for the past. And, just like Proust’s oeuvre, never boring but intriguing and beguiling at the same time. After the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-volume memoir, “My Struggle,” the gorgeous Mike Mills film, “20th Century ... more >
ARCHIVES
20th century women, it’s primo turns and great American cinema!
New from Annapurna Pictures and Archer Gray
Elle Fanning, Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig
Directed by Mike Mills
MISTRESS AMERICA
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Starring Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke and Heather Lind
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig who gave us the wondrous FRANCES HA are back with MISTRESS AMERICA The two, partners in life as in art, wrote the script together. Baumbach directs and Gerwig acts. Given its creators it’s unfair but inevitable to compare this film to the previous one. All the qualities that were there are here, including superb acting and hilarious script with a serious permanent ... more >
2013—The year’s best
So much to be thankful for
Best hairdo: Bobby Canavale's nape in "Blue Jasmine." Best scene: Greta Gerwig running in "Frances Ha" to David Bowie's "Modern Love." Best newcomer: Barkhad Abdi in "Captain Phillips." Best acting award: New York City in "Inside Llewyn Davis." Best documentary: "The Act of killing." So much to be thankful for this year. Here are my favorites among those films which had an official U.S. ... more >
Frances Ha
What exactly is a “three-hour brunch friend”?
Greta Gerwig
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha” is, like Lena Dunham’s hit HBO series “Girls,” fixated on the insular, entitled world of artsy, twenty-something Manhattanites, where twenty-seven year-old bachelors are still bankrolled, unapologetically, by their parents, and barely employed comedy writers and sculptors refuse to relocate to cheaper, less happening outer-borough apartments. Like Dunham, Baumbach ... more >