10s Movie Review - Frances Ha

Director: Noah Baumbach
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 86 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: great Gerwig, Micky Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen, Grace Gummer, Michael Esper

Description: A New York woman (Greta Gerwig) apprentices for a dance company and thros herself headling into her dreams, even s the possibility of realizing them dwindles.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 16: A FILM FROM 2012
 
Review: The strength of Noah Baumbach’s film have always been the characters: they are pure and human, without grand gestures. He shows that you don’t have to go all out to make a compelling drama. With “Frances Ha”, he aptly zooms in on small developments in an average life.

The film revolves around Frances, a young woman who needs stability, but has yet to find it herself. When her boyfriend suggests they move in together, she refuses. After all, she has agreed to stay with her best friend so she can enjoy being an eternal student. But the relationship ends and not much later her friend turns out to have other plans. So the she is, adrift on her own. Yes, she can dance, but not well enough to really get ahead. While people around her begin to settle down, Frances has no idea where to go.

Frances has many traits that make her likeable. She is kind, free-spirited and open-minded. But her more annoying traits make her the protagonist of realy felsh-and-blood with understandable shortcomings. And that this film works so well is because of Greta Gerwig. She has something tough and cheerful, but at the same time you see that she is constantly trying to give herself a certain attitude. A cleverly convincing fake self-assurance.

With a runtime under 90 minutes, a rippling pace and simple black-and-white photography, Baumbach keeps it small and simple. “Frances Ha” is an intimate portrait of a mid-twentysomething trying to get her life on track. Loved it.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 4: To Rome with Love

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Greta Gerwich, Alison Pil, Judy Davis, Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi, Flavio Parenti

Description: The intertwining stories of a worker who wakes up to find himself a celebrity (Roberto Benigni), an architect (Alec Baldwin) who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple (Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi ) on their honeymoon, and a frustrated opera director (Woody Allen) who has a talent for discovering talented singers.

Review: For director Woody Allen it has become the recipe: pick a famous city, choose a couple of interesting characters, add some storylines to it and finish it off with some witty comedy. Where he’s taken on Barcelona (“Vicky Cristina Barcelon”), London (“You Will Mee a Tall Dark Stranger”) and Paris (“Midnight in Paris”), he chose Rome for his décor this time.
I always like movies with multiple storylines, but it’s a bit too much here, even for Woody Allen. It’s very hard to make four completely different stories, which absolutely no relation, interesting. Which make some of the storylines feel a bit incomplete. For instance the story op Leopoldo, an average citizen who becomes a celebrity all of a sudden. It’s a good concept but doesn’t have the humor it should have. None of these stories are above average and the characters are all superficial and easily replaceable.
“To Rome with Love” does have some interesting moments, like the story of Jerry who discover that Giancarlo is a fantastic opera singer. But it also appears that he can only sing this well in the shower. This storyline is funny at times. The music that was used for the film is very characteristic and makes you think you’re in Rome. But the city of Rome isn’t used the way Allen did with Paris in one of my favorites “Midnight in Paris”, which was a hit. Is “To Rome with Love” a miss? Not completely, but it’s definitely not one of his best movies.

Rating: 2,5/ 5