Mistress America and Fort Tilden

Saw Mistress America this morning and think it would pair nicely (thematically) with Fort Tilden, although actually seeing them back to back might be too much to handle.

Mistress America wasn't as strong an overall film as Frances Ha, though a big improvement over Baumbach's While We're Young from earlier in the year, and it works as a perfect showcase for what Gerwig is capable of. Frances was a lovable screw-up, someone you always wanted to see succeed even if she kept falling on her face. Brooke, Gerwig's character in Mistress America, is more vapid and cynical. It's truly a testament to her talent and charisma that Brooke doesn't become a hateful, annoying creature.

Gerwig has great chemistry with Lola Kirke, her soon to be sister as soon their single parents tie the knot. Kirke plays Tracy, a freshman at Barnard who hasn't made many friends at school and desperately wants to be part of the literary society on campus. She meets Brooke, who is living in some commercially zoned property adjacent to Times Square and gets sucked into her frenetic life. Tracy admires and flatters Brooke, but doesn't fully fall for the act. Instead she starts writing short stories about this woman who is finding it harder and harder to coast through life.

Baumbach and Gerwig co-wrote the screenplay and Brooke is given hilarious one-liners in fast succession. The movie was so instantly quotable and the laughs will make up for some of its small missteps.

Fort Tilden follows two roommates living in Williamsburg as they attempt to bike across Brooklyn to Fort Tilden in the Rockaways in order to meet two boys at the beach. It's a thin plot, and it admittedly drags a little near the end, but the two leads hold it together with laugh out loud performances and and quick script that keeps them jumping from one detour to another. It's hard not to think of the film as an extend Girls episode, but it's funnier than the HBO show and the writers never try to make us feel sympathy for the girls the way Dunham does with her characters.

Overall they're both good end of summer flicks that I would recommend.

The writers do a good job of shifting your opinion about the girls. The opening scene at the twins' music party keeps them as a surrogate for the audience, rolling their eyes and making fun of everything we would. Other times, like everything dealing with the kittens or the neighbor's bike, clearly puts them in a bad light and begs for our judgment. And just when we begin to think that they're too awful they run into the stroller or have to deal with the Teach For America friends and they are firmly restored to heroine status.

I really don't know what you two are talking about--I found While We're Young to be a thoroughly enjoyable, funny, and provocative film about life today. I felt the same way of Mistress America. It was well-written to the point of immediate quotability. I can't imagine not having an enjoyable evening out seeing that movie. The plot was engaging enough (it's essentially a loose modern retelling of The Great Gatsby but with a lot less money and with two women as the focus) and both lead characters were very engaging. Having just finished my first year of college, I found Tracy's story to be incredibly resonant. It was representative of a very, very real and common college experience that seems to be rarely told in stories. This and While We're Young are obviously much lighter fair than Baumbach's earlier films, but if that allows us to get something as consistently funny as the Greenwich, Connecticut scene in this film, I'm all for it.