Frances Ha 紐約哈哈哈 (2012)
I have a mostly hate attitude towards indie or quirky films
Mainstream films there s no pretension in the intention
The purpose is to entertain and make money
No apology
Quirky indie films mostly are passion projects that may or may not be genuine
The underlining desire to be liked by the mass thus becoming a money hit just seems so....ironic
Not genuine
Anyway, the way I judge a film is the same way I judge intent of events and people
Is it genuine?
Trust me I know when it isn t
The premise of this film was not unique
Who hasn t gone thru growing pain in his/her late 20s?
The transition between life stage is not easy
Especially for the young people living in expensive cities like New York or San Francisco
Hold on to your dream, sell out, or move out??
Frances lived happily in Brooklyn with her best friend since college, Sophie, until Sophie wanted to move to a more expensive neighborhood (TriBeCa) that Frances could not afford
Frances is an apprentice with a modern dance company (poor)
Sophie works for a publishing house (comparatively not so poor)
Frances could not keep a boyfriend (although I don t think it s entirely her fault)
Sophie met Patch, an investment banker (ie makes a ton of money) and drifted further away from Frances
Frances spent most of the movie living temporarily with different roommates and slowly losing her dream of becoming a company dancer
More importantly, Frances lost her footing after Sophie faded out of her life
Unable to find a new best friend, she had to navigate socializing with people she could not make a lasting connection
In other words, Frances had to find her own strength to be mentally and financially independent
Frances Ha is not a perfect movie (no movie is)
It is merely a competent movie that works 65% of the time
The strongest aspect is the lead Greta Gerwig who played Frances and co-wrote the script
She seemed so unconscious and unaware thru out
Letting the audience peg her as what audience would peg her
Depending on your personality you may or may not like Frances
When a film role fits a person, acting isn t forced or conscious
It becomes genuine
I didn t much like Frances in the beginning of the movie
I cringed whenever I saw her faux pas, social unease, and pitiful ways to hold on to people
But towards the end I was rooting for her
This, IMO, is winning acting
All the actors with screen time more than 10 minutes are pretty uniformly good and well matched
Nobody I felt was out of place or unequally yoked (too good pairs with a weak one).
The casting director did a very good job
Another strong positive is filming it in black and white
The simple color scheme (various shades from white to black) made the emotional core of the film stand out
Most of the interactions between characters were filmed in a close range
Colors would take away attention from actors and the under current in the scenes
Frances Ha the character is not entirely based on Greta Gerwig the actor
It isn t biographical but an amalgamation of people she and her cowriter (and the director) knew or knew of in New York
The supporting characters some are less flashed out than others
The whole narrative at times seemed a bit forced (exaggerated) or too convenient as in "neatly wrapped up in a tidy package" way
As a whole I like Frances Ha a lot
I can identify with Frances fear and struggle recalling my own 20s and 30s
And the sad thing is, I am still the odd woman among a group of people
In my 30s and 40s I avoided friends because they were married and then later became parents
Our conversation was more often forced
I couldn t talk about my inner thoughts
They could not relate to me anymore because they were occupied with practical matters
They were in a different life stage than mine
Only now, most of them are empty nesters and I am comfortable being the only single in the room that we are back to be friends again
Frances didn t blame the world for passing her by
Her best friend, her family, her casual friends, nobody could relate to her situation or struggle
At the end, she found within her the ability to compromise dreams and reality and sought new directions to become a stronger and more mature person
This, I can totally relate, after a similar journey
This, is why I like Frances Ha at the end of the film
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