Spotlight by Dean Treadway: "Frances Ha" and Greta Gerwig
Dean Treadway shines a light on the final pre-festival screening in our Growing Up Baumbach retrospective, "Frances Ha." Get your tickets!
Among the finest features of the 2015 Atlanta Film Festival is Growing Up Baumbach, the retrospective of one of this year's honored filmmakers, Noah Baumbach, who's repped at the fest with one of his two new films, While We're Young (starring Naomi Watts and Greenberg collaborator Ben Stiller, playing Wednesday, March 25th, 7 pm at the Plaza Theater). The retrospective has already covered his 1995 debut, a look at post-collegiate aimlessness called Kicking and Screaming, and his Oscar-nominated 2005 film The Squid and the Whale, about a dissolving family of New York intellectuals. Yet I think they've possibly saved the best for last with Baumbach's 2012 teaming with star/co-writer Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha (playing Wednesday, March 18th at 7 pm at the Plaza Theater). I still think it's Baumbach's most visually resplendent movie, and as such, it's primed to be seen on the big screen where we can better enjoy its wily black-and-white gorgeousness.
Baumbach's second 2015 film, Mistress America, will be released later in the year, which is particularly exciting because it features his third collaboration with Gerwig (who broke through to widespread acclaim in 2010 with her superb supporting performance in Greenberg). From the look of things, their work together is shaping up to be among the most fruitful director/actor collaborations currently hitting screens, and certainly Frances Ha bears this out with its sympathetic, energetic peer into the life of a scrambled artist who's let her rambling youth intercede too far into her adulthood. Gerwig plays a dancer--one without particular talent or drive--who slowly sees the connections around her falling by the wayside. Her relationship with her boyfriend self-destructs in the very first scene, and things keep getting worse for Frances as the film moves on. Her once vital friendship with roommate Sophie (an excellent Mickey Sumner) hits a harsh roadblock, and this sends Frances spiraling into a frantic and hilarious search for her place in the world (literally). Instantly in the pantheon of great New York films (stylistically extremely indebted to Woody Allen's Manhattan, though transplanted to hipstery Brooklyn), Frances Ha is constantly funny, beautiful to behold (with cinematographer Sam Levy's amazing B&W images and a clever source music score featuring David Bowie and French New Wave composer Georges Delarue), and it's the utterly perfect vehicle for Gerwig who, with her articulate eyes and inquisitive mind, continues on her path to being among the most treasured actors on the indie scene.
I've been a fan of Gerwig's ever since being astonished by her work in both Greenberg and Nights and Weekends, her 2008 directorial debut with Joe Swanberg. As the co-host of Movie Geeks United, I had long been angling to get an interview with her for the show, and in 2012, I was successful in landing a 40-minute talk with her about her work on Frances Ha (she was extremely generous, as we had initially only been given 25 minutes together). So I thought I'd include that here as a special bonus. It's a captivating conversation, as I hope you will agree. See you at Frances Ha on Wednesday, March 18th at the Plaza Theater!
Atlanta native Dean Treadway is the Co-Host of Movie Geeks United, the internet's #1 weekly podcast devoted entirely to movies, with 750 industry guests and four million listeners worldwide. His blog, filmicability, has over 500 articles obsessing over films present and past and is approaching 1 million hits.
So the Squid and the Whale Walk Into The Plaza...
It's not too late to become a part of Growing Up Baumbach! Join us in our second screening, "The Squid and the Whale," TOMORROW at 7pm!
Phase two of Growing Up Baumbach, a celebration of Noah Baumbach's twenty years in cinema, graces our screen tomorrow! This week, it's "The Squid and the Whale" (2005). Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, and a young Jesse Eisenberg star in Baumbach's fourth feature film, a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about his experience with his parents' divorce. Watch the trailer now:
This film is our second-to-last installment before Baumbach's latest release, "While We're Young," screens at the 39th annual Atlanta Film Festival. Report to The Plaza Theater by 7:00pm on Wednesday, March 11th to grow up with Baumbach!
See "The Squid and the Whale" for just $7, or become a member and enjoy this blast from the past—along with "Frances Ha" and "While We're Young"—for FREE!
Noah Baumbach Knows You.
Director Noah Baumbach's been making movies about you for 20 years. Check out his first feature Wednesday night at The Plaza at 7 PM.
“Movie time is like college time."
“Days are slow and months are fast?”
“If you had a test on Thursday, Friday felt so far away.”
--Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig in The New Yorker
Noah Baumbach's movies don't make much money. Adjusted for inflation, no feature film in his twenty year directorial catalogue has grossed more than $10 million.
His most recent projects might break this streak ("While We're Young," "Mistress America"), but they might not. And Baumbach is 100% okay with that. This fact is responsible for the air of autobiography in every film he writes; much like his witty, existentially concerned, perpetually adrift characters chug along in—admit it—relatable stagnance, Baumbach doesn't require box office chart fame, or any fame for that matter, to validate his continued exploration of what the heck he's doing here, anyway.
Sound familiar? More so than, say, any film he's released?
We're here to help.
For less than a third of what Criterion wants from you, our premiere venue will screen Baumbach's directorial debut, "Kicking and Screaming," as the first of three weekly installments in Growing Up Baumbach: a retrospective tribute to his twenty years in cinema. Released in 1995, Baumbach's timeless portrait of post-grad friends who struggle to find the Real World Freedom in what feels like Real World Quicksand will strike a chord that leaves you echoing one of their own. "I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now."
Don't miss out as we prepare you to find yourself once more in ATLFF Official Selection "While We're Young," which screens Wednesday, March 25th as part of our 39th Annual lineup months before its theatrical release. See one retrospective selection for $7, all three for $15, or all three PLUS his brand new film for free when you become a member!
"Kicking and Screaming" screens TOMORROW, March 4th, at The Plaza at 7pm. See you there!
ATLFF to Host Southeast Premiere of Noah Baumbach's WHILE WE'RE YOUNG!
Atlanta Film Festival will host Growing Up Baumbach: a retrospective during the month of March, culminating in the Southeast Premiere of "While We're Young" during ATLFF '15.
We are extremely excited to announce that the 2015 Atlanta Film Festival will present the Southeast Premiere of "While We're Young," the latest feature directed by Noah Baumbach—Academy Award Nominee (Best Original Screenplay, "The Squid and The Whale") and critically acclaimed director ("Kicking and Screaming," "Margot at the Wedding," "Greenberg," "Frances Ha")—before its Atlanta release in April! To provide career context (and an excuse to see three fantastic films), we're hosting Growing Up Baumbach: a retrospective of three essential Baumbach works that will screen at The Plaza Theatre in the weeks prior to the premiere. See one film for $7, the first three for $15, or become a member and see all four for FREE.
Wednesday, March 4th: "Kicking and Screaming" (1995)
Paralyzed by postgraduation ennui, a group of college friends remain on campus, patching together a community for themselves in order to deny the real-world futures awaiting them. Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Noah Baumbach’s hilarious and touching directorial debut was one of the highlights of the American independent film scene of the nineties, speaking directly to a generation of adults-to-be. Stingingly funny and incisive, Baumbach’s breakthrough features endlessly quotable dialogue, delivered by a stellar ensemble cast.
Wednesday, March 11th: "The Squid and the Whale" (2005)
The film captures with extraordinary immediacy the inner workings of the Berkman family in 1986 Brooklyn. Bernard (Jeff Daniels), an academic and author, and his restless wife Joan, (Laura Linney) an up-and-coming writer, have given up on their marriage. Their two sons Walt (Jesse Eisenberg), 16, and Frank (Owen Kline), 12, are left to grapple with their confusing and conflicted feelings.
Wednesday, March 18: "Frances Ha" (2013)
Frances (Greta 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 in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption.
Wednesday, March 25th: "While We're Young" (2014)
This dramatic comedy about a middle-aged couple (Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts)—whose friendship with a dynamic, disarming young duo (Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried) upends their marriage and careers—garnered applause and attention at its Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival showings in 2014.
Atlanta Film Festival 2015 - Official Selection
How can you resist? Lock down your membership and get ready to join us for this one-time opportunity to grow up Baumbach.