Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Frances Ha
2013
**
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Zegen, Charlotte d'Amoise, Adam Driver, Grace Gummer, Patrick Heusinger, Michael Zegen

Frances is a 27-year-old dreamer who lives in Brooklyn. She wants to be a dancer and live with her best friend, but neither one of the plans seems to be working out. Noah Baumbach is a specialist in telling lightly plotted stories about people who are not easy to like. The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding featured awful people, but they worked as keenly observed family portrayals. However, the whiny and annoying Greenberg began to test my patience, and this collaboration between Baumbach and his girlfriend Greta Gerwig bored and disengaged me completely. Frances, as played by Greta Gerwig, is exhaustingly flaky, chirpy and chatty, and the film around her is aimless but thankfully short.