Frances Ha (2013)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Greta Gerwig deserved an Oscar for this. That's it.

Okay, many reviews are full of just grumpy complaints on Frances Ha; but I agree with most. My favorite review though, is by "nico-hvi" on Sept 8, 2013. That review is brief, insightful and readable; it even shares one well chosen quote from the film that demonstrate this critic's statements. Helpful, cuz my take on Frances Ha was not this clear! On my gut level, I watched the film on cable TV, or some of it, for after about 12 minutes, I zipped ahead, about 8 minutes, but it felt like I'd landed again in the same scene (zipped @ 8 min intervals until the end). I've never seen characters continuously spend time together, but never seeming to get connected. Many (negative) reviews here do well to better point out the vacancy & lack of attentive interactions between any of the characters. Reading these reviews echoed my own feelings, but also put those feelings into words! You could say that many of the reviews here enlightened me about maturing and just connecting with people and life.... all the things that the film itself had failed to do. One quick reference: Jane Austen seemed to present in her novels this type of blindness in persons & culture, convincingly. Any of us might fail to see and own-up to who we are (even in part), and once you enter the cul-de-sac it is very hard to exit, and reconnect. Thanks to the many of you who wrote enlightening analysis of this film's problems.

A beautiful character study about a woman in her late 20's who can't quite get into the stride of adult life. Greta Gerwig stars in and co- wrote this portrait of Frances, who has a gig as an apprentice in a small dance troupe in New York. She is extremely devoted to her college friend Sophie (played by Mickey Sumner, Sting's daughter), and when she moves out of their apartment and starts a serious relationship with a man, Frances is thrown for a loop. There's more plot, but the plot isn't exactly the point of the film. It's mostly about Frances stumbles into a small improvement in her station after many setbacks and sets a path for herself on her own terms.

I am probably going to watch Noah Baumbach's newest "While We're Young" tomorrow, so why not give one of his other films a watch as an appetizer. I watched "Frances Ha" in theater shortly after it came out pretty much exactly 2 years ago and I remember really enjoying it. None of this is lost on rewatch. I have a soft spot for modern black-and-white movies and this one is no difference. I felt there was something truly raw and authentic about everything in here, especially the characters' interactions and dialogs. Apart from that, there is some great music in here, especially the David Bowie song, but also "Everyone's a Winner". Lead actress Greta Gerwig scored a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal here and it was very deserved I must say, especially as she also came up with the excellent script. I don't want to quote many parts of this film that I found particularly successful, but I have to mention Frances' monologue at the dinner party which was just an amazing piece of acting and storytelling and, of course, the reference to that in the last scene of the movie is also spot-on.It is probably not my number 1 favorite film from 2012, but it's possibly the one film from that year that succeeds the most at combining drama and comedy. There are not that many dramatic moments, but her general life struggles and also crumbling relationships certainly deliver. And this is also a truly hilarious film. Frances is such a goofy, likable, relatable character that it's a complete joy to watch her, for example when she sleeps all the time when she is in France. The restaurant scene was excellent with her running off to get some money to pay. Or the quotes are sometimes hilarious too, for example about a certain French writer being "heavy". It's all very smart, yet never full of itself. It was such a joy to watch Frances have a great night at one point when her new friends ask her to dance and she dances all the way home as well. I would almost want to call this film a must-see, especially for filmmakers who want to come up with a quality comedy film. These 80 minutes (very short film, never drags for a second) were a wonderful experience and I truly hope that Baumbach and Gerwig can repeat this achievement as often as possible. Highly recommended.