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Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

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Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Old 06-06-13, 02:18 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by inri222
You forgot the word saggy from having a bunch of kids and losing all that weight.
I thought she had them lifted? They've looked great every time I've seen them in recent films/shows. Oh well, I'd still dip it in.
Old 06-10-13, 07:43 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Finally got to see this, and I really liked it. Quirky for sure, but I laughed quite a bit too.

Love the scene where she has to follow around the important woman and pour her drink.

Didn't realize one of the supporting women was Meryl Streep's daughter.
Old 06-10-13, 08:26 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Just saw it today, really liked it. Might check it out again this summer.
Old 06-11-13, 09:46 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Finally got to see this one tonight. I'd pretty much echo what Throwing Copper said. It was quirky and endearing and fun and featured a very good performance by Gerwig. It is the sort of movie that will make you smile (and frown) a lot more than it will make you laugh or cry.

The movie is a series of pretty distinct acts over a several month period in the main character's life. She begins in a place of contentment but substantial fragility and lack of direction and ends up finding her way, laying the groundwork for her future. The story had a real ring of truth to it. I would only really fault the film in its transition to the final act, which I found a bit rushed. The running time was only 86 minutes. Another five minutes to flesh things out near the end may have helped.

Overall, definitely an for me.
Old 06-12-13, 01:09 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Saw this last night and loved it. I was concerned going in since people had been making (false, it turns out) comparisons to that Lena Dunham crap, Girls.

This was vastly more intelligent and well-directed. It is also hyper specific without trying too hard. Frances is definitely a "type" and one rarely portrayed on screen well. This type of specific portrayal, along with the black and white cinematography made the film feel fresh in an authentic New Wave way even if it was borrowing signifiers from those films. Almost like a Tarantino-homage to the French New Wave in that Baumbach paid homage to a style in a film crafted to seem very much an authentic member of that class of film (like Kill Bill: Kung Fu and Inglorious Basterds:Men on a Mission films).

Overall, highly enjoyable and completely surpassed my tempered expectations.
Old 06-16-13, 10:01 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Damsels in Distress was great. I love comedies were you're never quite sure if the creators/cast are being serious or not.

Frances Ha is good and sublime in parts, but suffers from films like Shame which have a flawed protagonist. This film is even worse, in a way.

It's about an hour and fifteen minutes of the character losing control of her life (albeit in this case, in an educated middle-class way that's mostly entertaining to watch), then...

(not really a spoiler)
Spoiler:

she just suddenly turns her life around, but not really.


No character growth. Or perhaps it was too subtle and I was not clever enough to pick up on it.
Old 06-17-13, 09:17 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by The Bus
It's about an hour and fifteen minutes of the character losing control of her life (albeit in this case, in an educated middle-class way that's mostly entertaining to watch), then...

(not really a spoiler)
Spoiler:

she just suddenly turns her life around, but not really.
Yes, basically my issue. The film was only 86 minutes long, short by today's standards. The script should have included one more act between the last two acts to make the transition into the conclusion a little more believable.

No character growth. Or perhaps it was too subtle and I was not clever enough to pick up on it.
I cannot agree with you here. There was quite a bit of character growth.
Old 06-17-13, 10:35 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by The Bus
Frances Ha is good and sublime in parts, but suffers from films like Shame which have a flawed protagonist. This film is even worse, in a way.

It's about an hour and fifteen minutes of the character losing control of her life (albeit in this case, in an educated middle-class way that's mostly entertaining to watch), then...

(not really a spoiler)
Spoiler:

she just suddenly turns her life around, but not really.


No character growth. Or perhaps it was too subtle and I was not clever enough to pick up on it.
Originally Posted by jfoobar
Yes, basically my issue. The film was only 86 minutes long, short by today's standards. The script should have included one more act between the last two acts to make the transition into the conclusion a little more believable.
I have to disagree with you two on this point. The film is short, but the end is not really some sort of deus ex machina. Frances doesn't even achieve much by the end of the film. She gets a fairly low level job and uses the studio time it allows her to moonlight as the choreographer of a seemingly small interpretive dance performance attended mostly by friends and family. In the world of the film, given what we have explored in the Frances character, these are HUGE achievements. But, in terms of the objective achievement, she went from a frazzled immature wannabe dancer into a slightly less frazzled somewhat more matured unaccomplished dance choreographer.

I think the fact that you both viewed the third act as some sort of unrealistic achievement is a testament to how well the film does in establishing Frances as a character that her personal victory is seen similarly by the audience, as a huge deal, when if we take a few steps back, is not exactly out of character or realm of possibility at all and never was.
Old 06-17-13, 10:54 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by BambooLounge
I think the fact that you both viewed the third act as some sort of unrealistic achievement is a testament to how well the film does in establishing Frances as a character that her personal victory is seen similarly by the audience, as a huge deal, when if we take a few steps back, is not exactly out of character or realm of possibility at all and never was.
Your description bears no resemblance to what I have said at all. I agree that the ending was realistic in terms of what the character could have accomplished. What I said was simply that the ending was rushed and that the film could have used an additional transitory act prior to the ending.

There were chronological jumps between each act, sometimes pretty substantial ones. However, prior to the end, it was easy for the audience to quickly and comfortably speculate as to how she got from points A to B to C, to fill in the blanks more or less. That mechanism worked well until the end.
Old 06-17-13, 11:03 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by jfoobar
Your description bears no resemblance to what I have said at all. I agree that the ending was realistic in terms of what the character could have accomplished. What I said was simply that the ending was rushed and that the film could have used an additional transitory act prior to the ending.

There were chronological jumps between each act, sometimes pretty substantial ones. However, prior to the end, it was easy for the audience to quickly and comfortably speculate as to how she got from points A to B to C, to fill in the blanks more or less. That mechanism worked well until the end.
Your agreement with the statement "she just suddenly turns her life around" led me to believe you were agreeing with the implication there that her life was actually turned around as opposed to what it actually was, which was moderately progressed.

I don't see how the chronological jump from Act 2 to 3 was any less intuitive than throughout the film. The job she takes that enables Act 3 to even take place was brought into the plot in Act 2. If anything, the transition from Act 2 to 3 seemed the most fluid and intuitive. She was offered a position that provided the opportunities she seized upon in Act 3 in Act 2, in between Acts 2 and 3 she hits rock bottom in upstate NY after refusing the Act 2 position, rock bottom then has her go back on her Act 2 decision in Act 3.

Of all the jumps in the film, I think that was the shortest.
Old 10-16-13, 10:21 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

This comes out in November on the Criterion Collection. I'm gonna have to pick that up.

I love Gerwig.
Old 11-12-13, 12:55 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

I just finished watching this and wanted to hear what others thought. I am a little biased because I'm a big Noah Baumbach fan and immensely enjoy his dialogue. Although unfamiliar with the lead actress, I wound up being quite impressed on all levels.

By then end, I wanted to see more of the characters and where they were going with their lives. I feel this film would be a good vehicle to launch a cable TV series, kind of like what Dunham did with Tiny Furniture.
Old 11-12-13, 08:24 AM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Ahoy, sexy! It's on Netflix Instant now!
Old 11-12-13, 03:14 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by Why So Blu?
I thought she had them lifted? They've looked great every time I've seen them in recent films/shows. Oh well, I'd still dip it in.
Fuck yeah. I'd fuck her until her head caved in.
Old 12-29-13, 10:47 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

This was a really good movie, i just watched it.
Old 12-29-13, 10:49 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

I have to say (and I think I'm in the minority on this) but I thought this movie was pointless pretentious drivel.
Old 09-13-15, 01:50 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by Giles
I have to say (and I think I'm in the minority on this) but I thought this movie was pointless pretentious drivel.
Just finished watching it and I agree. 85 minutes of annoying hipsters can feel like an eternity.

1/5
Old 09-23-15, 04:55 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
I liked the trailer. Gerwig is like an attractive version of Lena Dunham.
Which still ain't sayin' a whole lot, imo.
Old 09-23-15, 05:04 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

I couldn't tolerate this film. I lasted 25 minutes but nothing was really going on and they all seemed like c unts.
Old 02-22-18, 05:43 PM
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Re: Frances Ha (2013) D: Noah Baumbach S: Greta Gerwig

Finally watched this and it was not as grating as I thought it would be. Frances was a bit aloof, but so darned cute. Caught it on FilmStruck. Definitely liked it more than Lady Bird.

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