Frances Ha
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver, Grace Gummer
Director: Noah Baumbach
Rating: 4/5
Greta Gerwig is an actress who is on the rise - in fact, she is someone to watch out for behind the camera as well as in front of it.
She reunites with director Noah Baumbach; they worked together on Greenberg, for new film Frances Ha. The pair penned the screenplay, while Gerwig leads the cast and Baumbach is in the director's chair.
Frances (Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer.
Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles.
Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. Frances Ha is a modern comic fable that explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption.
Gerwig has been making a name for herself for some time, and with his central performance, she shows just how great and actress she is.
Frances Ha is a young woman who is charming and totally endearing; not to mention she is someone that we can all relate to.
We have all gone through that stage where we don't know who we are, what we want or where our place is in the world, and the jealousy, we feel towards those who have found all of those things.
But Frances is not without her faults - making her even more endearing to just about everyone.
Frances Ha is a toast to messy lives and no direction, and Baumbach as captured all of that in a film that is funny, quirky and beautifully shot.
This movie is a breathe of fresh air when compared to every other comedy that has hit the big screen so far this summer.
There is just something so real about this movie; this scenario could really be happening to a whole host of women in just about every town or city.
Noah Baumbach has a knack for developing and then delivering interesting and fascinating characters, and Frances Ha is just another example of that.
Baumbach is going from strength to strength with every movie that he makes, and I really enjoyed the sharp and crisp direction of this movie.
Baumbach and Gerwig are a great actor/director team - they also penned this screenplay - and long may they collaborate together.
Frances Ha is out now.