Featuring dazzling performances from an all-star cast led by Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, and Bill Hader, Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) delivers a brilliant genre-bending film that works on many levels. Equal parts whimsical, rom-com, and highbrow, Maggie’s Plan feels like a Woody Allen film.

Greta Gerwig plays Maggie, a free-spirited neurotic character we’ve gotten used to seeing her play over the last few years (Lola Versus, Frances Ha, and Mistress America, to name a few). She decides she’s ready to have a baby, despite her good friend (a wisecracking Bill Hader) begging her to reconsider this idea. Maggie becomes desperate enough that she’s willing to accept a sperm donation from a goofy former classmate for artificial insemination. But her plan changes (as the title suggests) when she meets a handsome novelist John (the always wonderful Ethan Hawke). They begin spending more and more time with each other, and once it’s revealed that he’s going through some marital issues with his wife (Julianne Moore), it’s easy to see where the story is heading. But this is when the film does something interesting. It jumps ahead three years to show Maggie with a kid of her own and now married to John. Gradually, Maggie begins to feel neglected and wonders if she made a mistake marrying John. So, Maggie comes up with a new plan.

One of the best qualities of Maggie’s Plan is that, just when you think you know what’s going to happen next, Miller throws a curveball at the traditional story arc. Maggie’s Plan provides interesting perspectives relationships and love, suggesting that love is messy and that it’s not about who you want to spend the rest of your life with, as much as it’s about figuring out who you can’t spend your life without. The only shortcoming is a drawn out third-act that could be trimmed down by about 15 minutes. But aside from that, the film is an absolute delight.

Rating:
8/10

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s 2012 collaboration Frances Ha cemented them as every indie lover’s favorite power duo and their new, polished comedy Mistress America will only make their fans grow fonder. It’s not quite the modern masterpiece their first offering was, but with some sharp acting and an exceptionally written script, it’s a winner in its own way. Baumbach‘s earlier film from this year, While We’re Young got generational comedy all wrong; Gerwig may just be his lucky charm because Mistress America gets it all right.

As in Frances Ha, Gerwig again co-writes and stars, this time playing Brooke, a New York City socialite with an overwhelming go-getter attitude. She’s got big dreams and plenty of them, but she’s too freewheeling and allergic to commitment to bring any of them to light. She’s a self-absorbed dunderheaded, and she’s all talk, but she doesn’t know it. Her wide-eyed delusion is what makes her such a charmer.

Falling for Brooke is a breeze, and none fall harder than her soon-to-be stepsister, Tracy (Lola Kirke), a college freshman dead set on writing for her school’s prestigious literary magazine. It isn’t as lofty a dream as Brooke’s Manhattan fantasies (opening a hair salon/restaurant/clubhouse is my favorite), but then again, Tracy is about ten years younger and belongs to a more skeptical, unambitious generation. After a wild night in the city together, Tracy finds herself borderline infatuated with her future big sis. She becomes so obsessed, in fact, that she uses Brooke as the subject of the short story she’s submitting to the magazine. Brooke’s misadventures prove to be just the inspiration Tracy needs to earn her way onto the mag, but the sometimes unflattering literary portrayal doesn’t stay hidden from Brooke for long.

Mistress America is a tale of two women out of sync with the real world, stumbling through life until they bump into each other and tumble downhill. It’s clear Tracy’s got more intellect in her little finger than Brooke has in her whole body, but Brooke represents jubilance and self-worth, things Tracy thinks may be more important in life than all the smarts in the world. The dynamic between the two characters is rich and layered and hilarious, and they’re both fully realized representatives of their respective age groups. Baumbach’s characterizations of hipster youth in While We’re Young (embodied by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried) weren’t nearly as interesting or believable as Tracy. It’s no doubt Gerwig’s touch that gives Mistress America the vitality While We’re Young lacks.

The movie lifts off in the third act, which is essentially a chamber piece set in a sprawling, modernist Greenwich, Conn. manse. Brooke’s got a score to settle with her “ex-friend and nemesis,” Mamie Claire (Heather Lind), who stole her brilliant T-shirt idea (of “hard looking flowers with skulls and shit”), her super rich fiancé (Michael Chernus) and her cats. Determined to convince her loaded ex to finance her salon/brasserie, she shows up at their front doorstep. Along on the mission are Tracy, her school friend/crush Tony (Matthew Shear) and his relentlessly jealous girlfriend, Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas-Jones).

A spiraling volley of dialogue gradually whips up as all of the characters (plus a few random outliers) engage in a dizzying scene that sees all of the story’s dramatic threads escalate at once, in one room. It’s staggering how sharply written it is considering the amount of active participants in the scene almost reaches the double digits. It evokes the screwball comedies of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s (His Girl Friday comes to mind), and it’s the movie’s grand showcase. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen all year.

The cast is without a weak link (Shear occasionally threatens to steal the show with the hysterical, nasally way he screams, “NICOLETTE!”), but Kirke and Gerwig are the crowning jewels. Their work is so fluid and natural that, even when the movie flirts with overt theatricality, they stay grounded and feel like real people. This is one of the funniest films Baumbach’s ever made, and the hope is that Gerwig adopts some of Brooke’s can-do spirit and churns out more movies like this for us to feast upon.

On this week’s show, the tag team of Bernard and CJ review Noah Baumbach’s latest, Mistress America, starring Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke. The boys also examine the value of modern theatrical “enhancements” like 3-D glasses and 4DX theaters and whether they’re hindering or helping movies as a whole. Plus, there’s a computer program being developed called “Dramatis” that is able to detect points of suspense in a story. Could this be the beginning of a future where computers are writing Hollywood scripts? Bernard and CJ answer that question as well as share their Indie Picks of the week on this especially bromantic edition of the Way Too Indiecast.

This week’s sponsor is MUBI, a curated online cinema that brings its members a hand-picked selection of the best indie, foreign, and classic films. Try MUBI for 30 days FREE by visiting www.mubi.com/waytooindie.

Topics

• Indie Picks of the Week (1:16)
• Movie Tech Madness (15:45)
• Dramatis (36:59)
• Mistress America Review (51:43)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

Leviathan Review
Meru Interview

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It’s impossible not to bring up Daft Punk when talking about the uprising of French electronic dance music, but that’s not actually who Eden is about. French director Mia Hansen-Løve, whose previous work on Goodbye First Love captured the beauty and heartbreak of love, shot a film very close to her own heart, chronicling her brother’s aspirations of becoming a DJ. Pulsing beats, rave parties, glow sticks, cocaine, and yes, even a little Daft Punk, all contribute to his story.

Somewhere on a crowded dance floor lit up only by flashing disco lights and glow sticks is our protagonist Paul (Félix de Givry). In 1992 the rave scene in Paris is starting to gain a lot of traction and he wants to be the reason people line up for blocks outside of a club. Paul fits the stereotype of every creative genius–obsessing over every little beat in an unhealthy way. Eventually he forms a garage house duo with a close friend and starts going by the name Cheers.

Several years go by before the duo begin to make a name from themselves, Paul gets a small taste of living the “rock star” life; bypassing lines outside of clubs, getting comped free drinks at the bar, doing lines of cocaine, and being around lots of women. On several occasions Paul wakes up blurry eyed to a different girl in his bed. Unfortunately, Paul is missing out on one of the best perks of living a famous lifestyle, being financially successful. Crowds begin to crave the latest sound but the duo fail to expand from what they know and love.

While Eden spends most of its time detailing the French electronic-music boom in the 1990s, Mia Hansen-Løve gives time to what she seems to know best, relationships. Paul’s relationship are many and varied, from a foreign affair (played by the delightful Greta Gerwig) to a single mother who mistakenly thinks she’s sleeping with a celebrity. Despite a head-spinning rotation of women, Hansen-Løve focuses on the small yet memorable aspects of relationships, sexual rejection, public fights, and the awareness of personal growth that comes with entering into new relationships and reflecting on past ones.

Eden feels like a personal film for Mia Hansen-Løve. On one side it’s an accurate docudrama about EDM inspired by her brother’s heavy involvement in that scene, and on the other it’s a fleeting relationship saga. In the end, both are about letting go, but her attempt at combining these different concepts show their seams. Sticking to one concept might have played out better.

What adds to the confusion are strange artistic choices on Hansen-Løve’s behalf, including awkward overlays such as airplane fly-over maps, and voiceovers where the person talking hovers on-screen. Other style choices that don’t feel right are the occasional display of texts from Paul’s phone and a singular bit of animation in the beginning that is a bit out of place. Still, there are moments where the director’s filmmaking skills do shine, one such example being impressive long takes of large rave crowds. Despite the stimulating imagery, and heavy and constant thump of the hypnotic music played throughout the film, Eden fails to entrance.

Theatrical release in San Francisco and Toronto Friday June 26. Originally published as part of our TIFF 2014 coverage.

Patron saint of the mid-major movie release Megan Ellison announced with her company Annapurna Pictures that a preliminary cast has been assembled for director Mike Mills‘ upcoming family drama 20th Century Women. Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning will lead 20th Century Women, a story of a mother (Bening) raising her teenage son in Santa Barbara, California, in the summer of 1979. Gerwig will portray a photographer immersed in the local punk scene while Fanning plays the son’s friend. Beginners and Thumbsucker filmmaker Mills will direct his own script.

Producer Megan Ellison has used her clout to help guide several interesting projects to the screen in recent years, including The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, Foxcatcher and David O. Russell’s upcoming film with Jennifer Lawrence Joy. Ellison will produce the project alongside Anne Carey of Archer Gray and Youree Henley with Annapurna’s Chelsea Barnard on as executive producer. 20th Century Women will film in Southern California later in 2015.

In a press conference yesterday the San Francisco Film Society announced the complete lineup for the 58th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, running from April 23rd – May 7th. Festival Executive Director Noah Cowan led the presentation, emphasizing SFFS’s mission to champion films and filmmakers from around the globe.

“I think this festival doesn’t get as much credit as it’s due as being among the most significant champions of emerging filmmakers from around the globe,” said Cowan at the press conference. “There’s a lot of focus right now in the festival world on American independent cinema. There’s lots of great stuff going on here, but sometimes it happens to neglect the quite extraordinary artists coming from other parts of the globe.”

Emblematic of the festival’s initiative to spotlight films on a global scale is its “Global Visions” section, which boasts an array of narrative and documentary films from Japan (Wonderful World End), Brazil (The Second Mother), Germany (Stations of the Cross), China (Red Amnesia), the United Kingdom (Luna), South Korea (A Hard Day), France (Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey), New Zealand (The Dark Horse), and many more countries with exciting, emerging filmmakers and films worthy of our undivided attention. Also celebrating global storytelling are the Golden Gate Award Competitions, in which will award films from around the world nearly $40,000 across 14 awards categories.

The festival’s “Marquee Presentations” section takes a look at some buzzy titles from the festival circuit. Highlights include Eden, Mia Hansen-Løve’s French DJ drama starring Greta Gerwig and Brady Corbet; Best of Enemies, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon’s doc about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.’s legendary 1968 televised debates; Results, Andrew Bujalski’s awkward comedy starring Cobie Smulders and Guy Pearce as personal trainers; Francois Ozon‘s latest drama, The New Girlfriend; and What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus’ piercing doc about legendary vocalist Nina Simone.

The festival will open with lauded documentarian Alex Gibney‘s Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, which should be a perfect kick-off for the Bay Area audience. The End of the Tour, James Ponsoldt’s follow-up to The Spectacular Now, is the fest’s Centerpiece presentation, while Michael Almereyda’s biopic Experimenter, starring Peter Sarsgaard as scientist Stanley Milgram, will be the Closing Night Film.

Late additions to the festival lineup are still rolling in, but three additions confirmed are Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Sundance darling Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Patrick Brice’s uncomfortable comedy The Overnight, and Helen Hunt’s Ride.

Special awards will be handed out to two of the industry’s most enduring luminaries. Guillermo del Toro will be in attendance to receive the Irving M. Levin Directing Award, and Richard Gere will be on-hand to receive the Peter J. Owens Award. Also receiving awards are documentarian Kim Longinotto and film translator Lenny Borger.

For the complete lineup, visit www.sffs.org

Noah Baumbach, the director of Greenberg and The Squid and the Whale, shows a more comedic side in Frances Ha. Co-writing with star Greta Gerwig, the film plays out like a beneficial compromise between the two collaborators. Baumbach keeps his focus on characters who seemingly flail through life, while Gerwig injects a playfulness and light sense of humour that keeps things from wallowing in despair. The film feels like a new, and welcome, direction in Baumbach’s career, as Frances Ha is one of his finest works to date.

Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a 27 year old barely getting by in New York City. She struggles to be a professional dancer, working as an understudy and dance tutor for children. The only constant in her life is her best friend and roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner), but that soon changes when Sophie moves out for an apartment in Tribeca. She moves into a new place with two roommates (Adam Driver & Michael Zegen) who use their rich relatives to fund their lifestyles.

The rest of the film follows Frances as she tries to sort her life out despite a series of roadblocks and poor decisions along the way. Gerwig, who’s already shown herself to be a terrific actress, unsurprisingly gives one of the year’s best performances. Gerwig makes Frances a sympathetic character, even when she makes bone-headed decisions like rushing to Paris for a weekend or drunkenly embarrassing herself in front of friends. There are moments, like when Frances says goodbye to her parents (played by Gerwig’s own mother and father) after a Christmas vacation, that make it impossible not to root for her to succeed by the end. Sumner also does a great job as Sophie, who expresses the strained nature of her friendship to Frances almost entirely through body language.

It’s in these moments where Baumbach painfully shows how stagnant Frances’ life is, even as she tries to avoid what seems like the inevitable. Scenes like a dinner party, where Frances uses every opportunity to tell the more successful guests how badly she’s doing, are horrifying to watch unfold. The feeling of abandonment coming from everyone around you seemingly moving on to better things in their life is perfectly captured. Seeing Frances go back to work at her alma mater is a perfectly suitable and heartbreaking image that sums up those emotions.

Unfortunately, as the redemptive last act kicks in, the conclusion gets too rushed. Earlier on, when someone suggests Frances get an office job to help her get by while she figures things out, she replies with, “You say it like it’s easy.” Once she actually does take that advice, it only takes a brief montage before everything appears to be working out. It feels like a betrayal of everything that came before it, and when the film cuts to a party that everyone from the film attends, the effect is jarring. It’s an unusually neat way to wrap things up considering how much more nuanced things were up to that point.

The final scene, where the title is explained in a great shot I won’t spoil, wraps things up nicely enough that it’s easy to not mind the rushed ending. It’s hard to really dislike Frances Ha as Gerwig’s performance, the breezy pace, and quick-witted script work like gangbusters for the most part. Baumbach and Gerwig seem like a great team, and hopefully Frances Ha signifies the beginning of more collaborations in the future.

IFC Films has put out a trailer for Frances Ha, Noah Baumbach’s (The Squid and the Whale, Kicking and Screaming, Greenberg) new film. Initially a bit of a secret project that star and co-writer Greta Gerwig was going to direct, Baumbach eventually took over directing duties on the relatively small-scaled production. It premiered last fall to raves at Telluride and Toronto, with IFC eventually snatching up the distribution rights. The trailer shows a change of pace for Baumbach, with a more comedic tone than his previous films. Watch the trailer below, but be warned: Fans of David Bowie might not get “Modern Love” out of their head after watching it (seemingly a direct nod to this scene  from Leos Carax’s Mauvais Sang). Frances Ha comes out May 17th.

Watch the official trailer for Frances Ha:

Daryl Wein’s indie romantic comedy Lola Versus is just as much about finding love in yourself as it is finding love in others. The film attempts to give a unique perspective on the genre by telling it from an unapologetic single woman’s point of view, but it does not fully succeed. Thankfully, terrific performances from the lead (most of the supporting roles) saved the film from falling completely flat.

Lola (Greta Gerwig) just turned 29 years-old and according to her astrology book, it is the year that Saturn returns to the location it was when she was born. Now she expects her whole world to turn upside down (figuratively and astronomically). But she is reluctant that her life needs changing even though she understands that change is inevitable.

The film wastes no time getting to a monumental change in Lola’s life when her boyfriend Luke (Joel Kinnaman) proposes to her. As happy as she can be she replies, yes. Lola and Luke begin to plan out the wedding. But just as quickly it began, Lola returns home one day to discover that Luke no longer wants to get married. It is not revealed why Luke suddenly has a change of heart but Lola obviously takes the news incredibly hard. It was as if someone pulled the rug out from under her feet.

As Lola hits rock bottom, she relies on her friends to pick her back up. Her best friend Alice (Zoe Lister Jones) offers her shoulder for Lola to cry on. And so does Henry (Hamish Linklater), who is awkwardly stuck in the middle because he is friends with both Lola and Luke. Her parents also offer their support and comfort her as much as they can.

You could see it coming a mile away that eventually the platonic relationship between Lola and Henry would soon change. And it does. He was there for her when she needed someone and now she cannot let go. It is a realistic situation but one that we all know what the outcome will be.

The relationship turns from strictly friends to more when Lola asks if Henry will spend the night. She explains the reason for this is that nights are hard for her now that she is alone. While that may be true, there is definitely more to it than that. When things continue to get worse for Lola, she uses Henry as an answer to her problems.

Lola’s life is just as confusing to herself as it is to the viewer. Often, it is easier to see answers to other people’s problems than your own, but in the case of Lola, it was just as difficult. Part of this is due to the fact that sometimes life does not make sense; you do things that you know you should not. However, part of not understanding her character is obviously a fault of the film.

The beginning of Lola Versus felt completely rushed as if they were forced to stay within a 90 minute runtime (which it barely does). The drawback of that is not getting to know the characters and who they really were. Because the audience feels little attachment to characters, it is hard to care about when her heart-breaks over Luke. The fact they were all of a sudden getting married, then breaking up in the next scene, did not help matters either.

Also it did not help that Joel Kinnaman was so rigid in his role as Luke. Not only that, but his dull lines and personality made it was almost hard to bear. Fortunately, the rest of the cast all had noteworthy performances. Greta Gerwig handled the lead role with grace and received great support from both Hamish Linklater and Zoe Lister Jones.

There were times that Lola Versus veered off the predictable path of romantic comedy, but unfortunately they were very brief. It largely remained a generic rom-com with some head scratching dialog and situations. This film falls victim to having the cast try to carry a mediocre-at-best script, which ends up being a suicide mission for everyone involved.

Defining what Greenberg is can be quite difficult. It is a romantic comedy without the romance and comedy. The film does so by removing the typical cheesy gimmicks as it presents itself in a more real life way. There is humor in everyday situations, as this film shows, that are not meant to be funny but to someone watching, it is.

Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig) is a personal assistant to a Los Angeles family. She is an adorable hard worker who recently got out of a long relationship. Her boss’s brother Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is a 40 year old carpenter from New York who is house-sitting for them while they go on vacation for six weeks.

Roger’s character is somewhat of a mess. He just got released from a mental institution. Although it is never explained why he was there, he is very pessimistic, may have a touch of OCD and has a short temper. Also he does not drive and is a terrible swimmer. He is not exactly a crowd pleaser of any sorts.

Out of the blue it seems, Roger calls up Florence asking her if she wants to grab a drink. The plan is quickly abandoned and then awkwardly tries hitting it off with her. They admit that it is probably a bad idea to try getting together considering she is working for his brother. This makes sense, although that does not seem to stop them from trying to make it work throughout the entire film.

Roger and Florence’s interactions so early on are odd and awkward but mostly unrealistic. As viewers we miss the flirting stage completely and enter the make-a-move stage with barely a hello. Moving too fast, that was their problem but it also goes beyond just their characters. The film moves too quickly as a whole. There was a lack of clarity in the sub-plots that damages the main plot. His friends seem to come into the story then leave without any real significance.

The acting from both Greta Gerwig and Ben Stiller is top notch. It is a performance which you would come to expect from Stiller. He plays the neurotic character on a serious level while throwing in some comedy without trying spot on. Having said that, I feel that nomination for Best Male Lead at the 2011 Independent Spirit Award was deserved but I have a hard time seeing him win it. Same goes for Gerwig. I honestly with there was more Mark Duplass in the film. He has become one of my favorite actors as of late so it was a shame to see him in this for only a few scenes.

I would say that Ben Stiller pulled an Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love with his non-traditional role as the unlikeable, non-slapstick funny, jerk, which may come as a surprise to some, but he has done this role before. Just not in a long time. In fact, most loyal fans know that this is not even his first indie film. Still, it is always a pleasure to see type-casted actor break the mold and be multi-dimensional.

Best Cinematography is another nomination it is up for but also I feel that should not win. It’s too bad that the Independent Spirit Awards do not have a Best Original Score or any soundtrack related category. If they did, I feel like Greenberg would have a decent shot at getting it. The soundtrack was done by James Murphy, the man behind the wonderful band LCD Soundsystem.

Greenberg is basically a character study about Roger Greenberg. It is safe to say that Greenberg had too many ideas going on and overall had little focus and little was accomplished. It is for this reason I do not think most audiences will get into this film. However, it is worth noting that Greenberg is not a total flop. If you manage to stick it out, you will be rewarded with solid acting performances and an original soundtrack and perhaps even a few laughs.

The authentic 80’s atmosphere in this demonic horror flick really makes you feel like you are watching something they pulled out of a vault somewhere. Director Ti West baptized The House of the Devil in the most unholy of 80’s horror nostalgia. Shoty camera work, big Farrah hair and an even bigger Walkman cassette player are just a few of the things that make it such a wonderful blast from the past.

Samantha, a sweet collage sophomore is moving out of the dorms, away from nasty, nympho, slob roommate and into a her own little cozy apartment. Unfortunately, like many collage kids, she has no money. So paying first months rent is going to be tricky. Desperate to take any job she can get, she calls a number she finds on a flier that simply says “baby $itter needed”. She gets there and they offer a overly generous wage. So whats the catch? Well for starters there is no kid, just pure evil.

This was a fun movie with a few really good moments. I feel like a lot of horror movies go for cheap scares these days, so its nice to to see something with a little class. But it was certainly not perfect. I felt at times that they started making it without really knowing where it was going. When I was done watching I felt that nothing really happened.

Aside from the sloppy storyline and the slight feeling of “that’s it?” It was quite enjoyable.