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DVD (5)
As a study of stasis and of people conscious of not living the lives they had imagined for themselves, the picture offers a bracing undertow of seriousness beneath the deceptively casual, dramatically offhand surface.
Noah Baumbach again investigates psychologically screwed-up people, although this time with much less comedic impact.
Stiller is expert at playing self-indulgent types unaware of their boorishness, and Greenberg is no exception.
What saves it, however, is Gerwig. The love story ain't credible, but her performance is, perfectly capturing a young woman who doesn't lack confidence so much as a sense of self.
In many ways this is Baumbach's best film, filled with his bitter but often funny misanthropic perspective, but buoyed by the undeniable likability of Stiller and Gerwig.
The movie has the easy, unforced feel of the temporary timeout in life that Roger himself has embarked on. The script is full of funny, observant lines.
Obviously there's running commentary from director Noah Baumbach -- his characters are never free of context -- but they don't have epiphanies, they don't learn and they don't apologize. It's kind of refreshing.
Baumbach's writing and direction of these characters display more of a novelistic touch...but the approach produces a deeply felt view of flawed individuals.
Greenberg is not an enjoyable movie, but it's a unique experience that will mostly appeal to cinephiles with insatiable appetites for character-driven small films.
Después de su estupenda y autobiográfica The squid and the whale (2005), el neoyorquino Noah Baumbach se ha dedicado a narrar historias más bien neuróticas, pelotudas e intrascendentes sobre personajes neuróticos, pelotudos e intrascendentes.
Ben Stiller plays the most repellent character I have ever seen in a movie and that includes "Dracula". If you are going to feature a repellent character, you have to make him or her interesting. Bela Lugosi was a huge success by comparison.
This is more of a character study than it is a real story. The characters in the film are vivid and they make indelible impressions. The acting is excellent all around.
From the ever-inventive mind of Noah Baumbach comes a deep comedy that seems to combine elements from his last two films.
A typically low-key effort from Noah Baumbach...
The engine that drives Greenberg is this tension between the illusion of our outward projection and the absolute loathing of the worms underneath.
Baumbach may think he's found a rare happy ending when he puts these two together, but I highly doubt it.
Baumbach's movie once again walks a fine line between being off-putting and being fascinating in its character study, and for me the positives win out.
Greenberg is inevitably, productively divisive in tone and topical focus-and this in itself strikes me as a good thing-but you cannot say the filmmakers aren't trying to use all the resources available to the form.
Watching the social and family dynamics play out in this film reveals a whole life lived in these rhythms and traps, which is not always pleasant... but certainly interesting.
Good luck with yourself, Greenberg. But I think I want to break up.
Far from the usual slapstick laced with smarts comedy, Greenberg is Ben Stiller's Punch Drunk Love.
The characters are so socially destructive that it's difficult to care what happens to any of them.
full review at Movies for the Masses
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