Frances Ha

director: Noah Baumbach 

year: 2012
with: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Esper, Adam Driver, etc.

 

plot: Frances lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness.

what I liked: It´s black&white! This alone makes it well worth seeing for me. The story is nicely unfocused, there is no real suspense or stringent plot line but all scenes are strangely beautiful, slightly weird, sometimes silly, sometimes philosophical, moving or/and charming. Greta Gerwig as Frances is amazing, sometimes you wanna hug her, other times shake her. And that whole world of emotions and problems that comes with growing up, watching friends moving on in life and trying to figure it all out for yourself - who doesn´t know it?!

what I didn´t like: nothing specifically, at times Frances´naivety is slightly annoying but this is part of the film so it needs to be there.

verdict: A beautiful little film for the artsy fartsy film lover in me. Beautiful to look at, nice selection of music and an amazing main actress, fantastic.