Frances Ha

2014 hipster comedy

Rating: 14/20

Plot: The titular gal's trying to make it as a dancer in New York City. She lives with her BFF, but they start to grow apart after Sophie moves in with her boyfriend. Frances drifts and tries to get her dancing feet settled somewhere.

Greta Gerwig has a name that I don't really like, but at least her name isn't Frances Ha which would be the worst name of all time. Gerwig, who co-wrote this with Noah Baumbach, is very sly here. There's an awkwardness to the character that causes her to stand out, not necessarily in a good way or a bad way but just in a way. The character's likable even when you don't like any of the decisions that she's making, and you root for her even when things seem completely hopeless. I bet the character's naive airiness, whimsical or refreshing to some, would irritate some viewers. In a way, Frances Ha is like a coming-of-age story with a protagonist in her late-20's. But although a little irritating, it's the exact kind of character Gerwig wants her to be, and the performance, one where the character is always just slightly off or slightly out of place or slightly slight, has a confidence that I like. Honestly, I don't think I liked any of the characters in this movie. Yes, I'm sure I didn't like any of them. I do like the idea of the movie and its characters though, like a less-absurd Jarmusch movie in cool black and white, the type of movie where not enough really happens and the characters alienate you. It's the exact kind of movie that I usually like more than other people. The movie wasn't all that funny, and I guess I had more trouble connecting with these Baumbach characters as much as I have his characters in the past, maybe because the character at the center of it was a woman. I am not, in case you haven't been following along, a woman. Or a dancer. Or a New Yorker.