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"No Sleep, Til Brooklyn" — Beastie Boys
Pauline
Maybe ... maybe I could get a place
in Brooklyn — Williamsburg or
something. People are living there
right?
Margot
You don't want to live there. It's
all young people. —
Margot
at the Wedding
The aforementioned dialogue
tellingly evinces Brooklyn born filmmaker Noah Baumbach's
inevitable grown-up status, foreshadowed in dialogue from
his first feature, Kicking
and Screaming:
"I've noticed that
the characters in Grover's stories spend all their time discussing
the least important things. You know, like what to have for
dinner, or who's the best looking model in the Victoria's
Secret catalogue. To me the story seemed slight."
The melancholy Margot
and The
Squid and the Whale are indeed mature movie productions,
yet we miss the foolishness and snark of his early
indies. To wit:
Kate: I'm going to be 17 tomorrow.
Max: Wow, now you can read Seventeen
Magazine and get all the references.
—
Kicking
and Screaming
And we miss the community
of film friends,
Carlos Jacott, Chris Eigeman, Eric Stoltz, et al:
"It would be interesting if we could create a salon.
A community for our friends to exchange ideas on art and philosophy.
Hmmm. I wish we had more French chums." —
Highball
Not to mention, plots
that perplex:
Lester, the titular hero, inveigles best friend Vince to infiltrate
Lester's girlfriend's ex-boyfriend's therapy group in the
guise of Lester in order to find out what kind of a relationship
the two had had. Dissatisfied with Vince's findings, Lester,
as Vince, joins the group:
"Vince became
Lester, named Leo, while Lester remained Vince but why Vince
spoke in an English accent, Lester couldn't even begin to
imagine." —
Mr.
Jealousy
Whether relaying stories
about callow youth's petty games or shallow guests allowed
to sit at the big table, we're "terminally smitten"
with Noah Baumbach, who unlike "Vince" in Mr.
Jealousy, does not "knock at the door of profundity
and runs away.
Postscript: Fantastic
Mr. Fox
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