Soundtracking: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

by Chris Feil

Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) is filled with pain for each of its characters, that's undercut by melodic and melancholic humor throughout. Each of the Meyerowitz children have been by psychologically modled by their artist father Harold (Dustin Hoffman) as if they were one of his sculptures, and share a congruent sadness. It’s one of Baumbach’s most underrated and bruised emotional efforts, its balance of pain and levity captured in a few delicate musical moments. Throughout, Baumbach builds a family history that is vivid and always at the surface, with the music allowing us to see the evolution of their sadness...

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Tweetweek. Calm Before Globes Storm

In this weekend's very short tweet roundup: Jessica Chastain, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lady Bird, Noah Baumbach, and much more... 

Film Twitter & a film. pic.twitter.com/mduFzFzfvd

— Tom Reagan’s Hat (@andymannion777) December 30, 2017

Michelle Williams has received four Oscar nominations for playing Carey Mulligan with a migraine.

— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) January 7, 2018

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Soundtracking: "Frances Ha"

Lady Bird is a hit, so Chris is dancing in the street with Greta Gerwig to Frances Ha's soundtrack!

There aren’t many films that use music to capture a state of transition better than Frances Ha, particularly growing out of immature idealization. The film uses its heroine Frances’s addresses as chapter markers, but the flourishes of music notate her waning optimism and intensifying self-actualization. It’s like a variation on Woody Allen’s Gershwin obsession, but here it’s the character glamorizing her life rather than the film itself.

Music is an integral part of creating her internal fantasy. The twinkling, carefree instrumentals provide the lens with which we experience Frances’s world - or at least a more gilded version of how she envisions herself living in it. In tandem with the film’s precise editing and Greta Gerwig’s tremendous performance, the music choices make her everyday life a daydream that’s headed towards an inevitable collapse.

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An Ode to Adam Sandler

By Spencer Coile 

To many, Adam Sandler was in no need of a career makeover. Even with Netflix films like The Ridiculous 6 and Sandy Wexler, many were drawn to his schtick and comedic talents -- even if those talents were misplaced in terrible films. Still, after decades of being the go-to "funny guy," it is refreshing to see Sandler step back and display his acting chops in more nuanced ways. We saw this in 2002 with Punch Drunk Love, and we are witnessing it again in 2017 with The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), the latest from Noah Baumbach. 

Watching Sandler explore the idiosyncrasies of a complicated character is so fleeting, that sometimes, it is vital for us to also take a step back and realize: Adam Sandler can be a great actor. And fortunately, The Meyerowitz Stories offers him the opportunity to demonstrate why he has been a staple to the field of comedy for decades, but also, to dive into a character that feels completely genuine and tailor-made for Sandler's caliber of acting. 

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Soundtracking: "Mistress America"

The Meyerowitz Stories comes to Netflix this week, so Chris looks back at Noah Baumbach's last farce...

It's not uncommon for a hip song to singularly define a film, but rarely do they also unlock or embody a character with equal force. When Mistress America does so with “You Could’ve Been A Lady” by Hot Chocolate it’s working with a character that wants to similarly been seen as a lot of things, but most importantly cool. As if Great Greta Gerwig could ever be seen as something less than complex and cool as heck.

Mistress America takes off musically with a more subdued approach. Lola Kirke’s Tracy arrives at college, one of the times where we we allow music to outwardly define us, whether it’s a dorm poster or conversation starter. It's no surprise that college films lean in heavy on contemporary musical hipness for their identity. This film instead first relies on Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham’s score instead, presenting impressionable Tracy as a somewhat blank slate. That is until the film’s signature track busts in and dominates just like Gerwig’s Brooke.

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