Tuesday, March 30, 2010
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
ESSAY
The Big Picture
Troubled East Coast and West
Coast Men, Holding Onto Real Women On The Big Screen
Later this year: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan in Mr. Hoffman's "Jack Goes
Boating". Now: Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig in Noah Baumbach's
"Greenberg", now in U.S. theaters.
Overture Films; Focus
Features
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
"I think Jennifer Jason Leigh said this actually," recalled the
actress-writer-director Greta Gerwig recently. "She said, 'most female
roles in movies -- you're just there to prove that the leading male is
heterosexual . . . [the women] don't have any stake of their own, they don't
have any life of their own, they don't have anything other than that.'"
Miss Gerwig's onscreen character Florence wouldn't fit Ms. Leigh's assertion
about not having a life outside the leading male character, especially in the new film
"Greenberg", directed by
Noah Baumbach and written by Mr. Baumbach and Ms. Leigh, the director's wife.
Ms. Leigh also has a small role in the film, which expanded its theatrical
release in the U.S. over the weekend.
Where Hollywood films are all-too-often adorned with women as afterthoughts,
appendages or trophy wives, "Greenberg", an albeit far-from-great film, has an
authentic woman at its center: Florence Marr. Florence has a story of her
own. An aspiring lounge singer and a personal assistant, her assignment isn't to
baby-sit, enable or chaperone the insecurities of Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller)
but to challenge him and present herself as a woman of ambition possessing an "awkward
grace" and a purity of heart despite imperfections.
Roger has lived in New York City forever, and a trip to Los Angeles has left him
all at sea. He no longer drives in the City of Lights (but he can swim).
He's a misanthrope with an active mind. He complains compulsively as if to
prove that you really can fight City Hall. He retorts to a confidant (Rhys
Ifans), as a matter-of-fact, that "life is wasted on people." In
capturing Roger Mr. Stiller dials down the hyperactivity of some of his prior
incarnations (in "Zoolander" and "There's Something About Mary") to produce a
portrait of an angry, combustible man who doesn't want to be saved as much as
left alone.
Mr. Baumbach's drama is spare, which benefits Miss Gerwig to a great degree -
she has a large canvas to operate on. Episodes of spontaneity in some of
the scenes in "Greenberg" afford her the opportunity to flourish. Florence
as a character is patient and resolute, even if her journey often isn't.
Roger may misunderstand himself through her, or at least what she represents to
him. Florence has her own issues and can certainly survive without Roger,
even if he cannot get out of his own way.
Florence is independent and understanding although she doesn't put up with
Roger's b.s. as much as she shows him she's not the kind of woman who scares
easily. (If she could belt out Frank Sinatra's "Hello Young Lovers", she would.)
As crafted by Greta Gerwig, Florence has a strength and gentility that are
profound. In some ways Miss Gerwig's portrayal is as naturalistic as any
acting so far in 2010.
As for Roger, he lives to fight another day, distracted, troubled and lonely but does he
learn anything about his life in Los Angeles and how he's going to live it?
That last question is may be answered in "Jack Goes Boating", the feature
film directing debut of its star Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the title
character. Centered in New York City, the comedy-drama, which opens later this
year, is about an insecure and isolated man learning to put one foot in front of
the other, when romance intervenes. Unlike Roger Greenberg, Jack can
drive. He's a limo driver. And Jack has trouble swimming or at
least getting his head below water.
In Mr. Hoffman's film Amy Ryan plays Connie. Like Florence Marr, she is a full character, although
more fragmented, having arguably more issues with self-esteem than Florence. Connie challenges Jack
to a degree, although she is a mystery in some ways as far as the film presents
her. Jack has help in his life -- he receives plenty of assistance from Clyde (John Ortiz), one of
his good friends and confidants, and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega). Clyde and
Lucy are married. They too have a story to tell.
If "Jack Goes Boating" sounds familiar, it's because its origins are a play by
Bob Glaudini, who also wrote the screenplay for Mr. Hoffman's film. "Jack
Goes Boating" had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Jack, a likable fellow, has an anthem of reassurance that plays throughout the
film. Unlike Roger, who bitterly lectures members of a younger generation
in a condescending "when I was your age . . . " vocal cadence, a sunny yet
cautious optimism keeps Jack more or less afloat. Jack tries to face the
world one step at a time. He gets out a little more than Roger does, and
he's not as isolated.
Connie may not be as confident and as put together as Florence is, but she's
arguably more unguarded. Connie isn't a heroine in the typical or classic
sense, nor is she a damsel-in-distress, though she has baggage in her life --
maybe as much as Jack does. Connie wears some of her insecurities on the
outside but she's stronger and more sure of herself than Jack is. There's
a tentative tango that swirls around Jack and Connie and though both are strong
and resolute in some aspects of their complex lives, they seem less self-aware
than Roger and Florence do.
The elements of an large, urban American city play a stronger role in Mr.
Hoffman's forthcoming film than in Mr. Baumbach's, and "Jack Goes Boating" is a
busier film because it has a parallel story for its other two lead characters.
By contrast, there's a sprawling, ethereal sort of situational randomness to
"Greenberg". The film floats and wanders as Mr. Stiller's Roger
"metaphorically" stands still for much of it. Roger has so much neuroses.
Connie may be more profound a character in "Jack Goes Boating", however slight
and troubled she appears. But that, it seems, is what makes her stronger.
Whether it's New York City ("Jack Goes Boating") or Los Angeles ("Greenberg"),
both Jack and Roger meet women who have a huge stake in their own lives on the
big screen and in the story told on it. These women lead the way, and in
their own time and space. They are patient, positive, flawed and full, so
too is Lucy. In these two independent films ornamental women need not
apply.
FOLLOW
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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