Emerging the child of two film critics, Noah Baumbach couldn’t help but let his influences lead him to become one of current film landscapes' finest writers and directors. Time after time and film after film, Baumbach has never failed to deliver stellar screenplays marvellously directed  often illuminating the human experience. With many of his films being in some facet semi-autobiographical, his frequent collaborators have ranged from his wife’s and partner’s, to repeat actors sharing similar sensibilities. I really do feel that Baumbach is another director that we simply take for granted in the current world of films, and I hope that anybody who reads this will return to all of his films, because there just isn’t one (that he had complete creative control over) that isn’t at least good in some way.

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Kicking and Screaming (1995)

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Baumbach’s directorial debut takes us back to the peak of the independent film-making in many people’s eyes; the 90’s, where every other week you had a new voice coming to the screens with another exciting filmic endeavour. One such filmmaker was Baumbach who began his career with this relatively simple comedy following a group of friends who hang around for a little too long at college after their graduations, in some veiled attempt to return to those vague glory days. There’s not a single person who watches this film who isn’t effected by the nostalgic themes of it, even if there college experience wasn’t worth sticking around for, there is some period of time where we wish could have made last longer. Our characters here however make that whimsy dream a reality and an hour and a half of painful comedy ensues. The basic structure of the film follows Josh Hamilton’s Grover, a pleasantly depressed guy dealing with the loss of his girlfriend following her move to Prague, whilst interspersing sparring scenes showing the initial birth of the relationship. His girlfriend being played by Olivia D’abo, with a tightrope walk between adorable and realistically witty. The Baumbach script has all the flourishes and ear for dialogue that we will come to know as perhaps his greatest asset, the film just doesn’t have the cleanness of his later films in the visual sense. In many ways the film is his least mature work, exemplified by a rare on-screen cameo from Baumbach as a juvenile student talking about having sex with different animals.  The film certainly feels like a debut in that sense, but is also filled with the qualities that will lead to him going on to become one of our great directors of the past 20 years, and certainly one of the best screenwriters. The film highlights its capability with dialogue with a running gag of us hearing the borderline absurd comments of conversations we pass, including such gems as “Well my brother’s gay, so I know!” and “I’ll tell you the worst part about losing a foot”, all in all this leads to an overall juvenility, but a plainly very funny script. But the film also has great wisdom about it, all culminating in the ultimate climax of the film, one of the great subversive endings of the decade. Completely being anti-climatic, completely subverting our genre expectations and leaving us an audience overwhelmed by the truth of things, rather than the movie world we have been inhabiting for the past ninety minutes.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

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Before making his seminal divorce drama Marriage Story, Baumbach touched upon the subject for the highly autobiographical The Squid and the Whale, which garnered him an Oscar nomination for best screenplay, which he lost (Baumbach is still Oscarless). Originally proposed by Baumbach to be directed by Wes Anderson (who turned it down believing that it should be directed by himself to emphasise the true to life nature of the piece), Squid is the story of a four person family unit as they deal with the separation of the two parents, played excellently by Jeff Daniels (who took over at the last minute from Bill Murray – Daniels is a better choice I feel) and Laura Linney, both of whom do the best work of their careers. The two sons of the piece are Jesse Eisenberg as the older of the pair, a teen completely sucked in by his father’s obnoxious hatred for philistines, and Owen Kline, siding with his mother as he deals with a crisis of masturbation and very early drinking (in some hilalriously bizarre and painfully truthful sequences). The use of art and pop culture is the crux of the film with a frequent comparison throughout between high art and low art. The film in its penultimate scene discusses Goddard’s Breathless with Daniels proudly referencing it, only for Linney to completely misunderstand (this moment also contains a meta joke about the films adoption of Goddard’s own jump cuts). All throughout these sorts of scenes crop up and are hilariously used by Baumbach at multiple moments, in particular a harsh cut to a rather graphic scene from Lynch’s Blue Velvet, this cut makes me laugh out loud every time I see it in actual fact. William Baldwin appears in a memorable turn as Linney’s new boyfriend, with Anna Paquin as his ill judged mirror as Daniels student who both Daniels and Eisenberg fall for. It is in the scenes with these two that the film best establishes it’s comedic language; short sharp bursts of moments rather than extended scenes, allowing for the film to collate in a montage quality over time, rather than an extended scene exploring the films themes and central focuses (as Baumbach would use later in his films). This montage quality of course leads to the extended scenes here having a very touching quality in their lingering. The title of the film refers to a point of childhood pain for Eisenberg’s character, a constant reminder of the pain of memory, with the events of the film most likely to become to the most effecting moment of either of the two sons lives. The Squid and the Whale moves at an incredible zip running at only 81 minutes, with a pace that would jumpstart Baumbach’s career of shorter farcical comedies. However it is here in the imbuing of familial drama that Baumbach hits his stride. A perfect double feature with Marriage Story for those who have not watched one or the other, or the two back to back.

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

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I feel as if the prevailing issue with all of Baumbach’s earliest is concluding them, an issue that will actually rear its end again later a couple of times, but what can’t be denied is the talent and capability of writing and handling actors that is visible at all points in these 2000’s movies. Perhaps the best encapsulation of a film that offers an abundance of material and glimpses to wider stories, without ever nessecerilly concluding the one that it’s telling is the 2007 feature Margot at the Wedding. A film that boasts an awful lot of great things, but feels pretty uneven in its overall study of its characters. On surface level and understandably so, the film is a character study of Nicole Kidman’s titular Margot as she deals with her own neurosis and family relations upon returning home for the wedding of her sister Pauline, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, to the rather unremarkable Malcolm, played by Jack Black. Kidman is the centre and is wonderfully developed in the role, offering a distinctly human portrayal of a middle child put upon and one to put upon others, her Margot is sensitive but then decisive, before then being cunning, before then being stunningly intelligent. The complex nature of the figure and her place in the story amongst the other characters is deftly handled by Baumbach and Kidman and leads to some wonderfully intriguing conversations and exchanges. Black and Leigh are the other standouts in the film, with Leigh being perhaps the less showy of the two performers and Black relishing the character of a pure scumbag. The whole conceit of the film is that Margot can’t understand why Pauline wants to marry Malcolm, so as an audience we must simulatnuesly understand all three angles of this scenario. With these three chief performances and with Baumbach’s writing, we certainly do just that. As is the case with Squid and the Whale the film is in many ways told from the point of view of children, in this case Zane Pais as Margot’s child Claude, however where this choice in Squid works wonderfully in crafting its tale, I feel that the same can’t be said here. I do feel bad about being negative about these earlier films, because frankly I could watch Baumbach movies all day; his expertise and clear precision in delivering believable, hilarious and poignantly dramatic dialogue at all turns is unrivalled in many senses in the modern film landscape with the brand of films that Baumbach makes. This film too explores themes of authorship and authors themselves as Baumbach frequently does, with Margot in this film being a successful author who has at points it seems used memories of her family for fuel for her narratives. Lots and lots of interesting things, concepts and character dynamics are touched upon in this film, however all in all I do wish that they were interrogated a little further, as Baumbach does so frequently and brilliantly as his craft continues to develop.

Greenberg (2010)

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Imagine a slice of life movie where the slice from the life is of a guy coming off a mental breakdown, as he strikes up a most likely ill advised relationship with his brother’s assistant as he house-sits and deals with his brother’s very ill dog. It’s certainly a bizarre conceit, based off a story by Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh in her second Baumbach feature, forming a screenplay written by Baumbach solely. The tagline posits that Ben Stiller’s titular Roger Greenberg has “got a lot on his mind”, and when we get to find what is going on up there it is frequently in stark and darkly humorous and seemingly random outbursts. Stiller’s love interest marks out first appearance of Baumbach’s future partner (creatively and personally) Greta Gerwig, who will appear and have a hand in writing two of Baumbach’s next two features. Here she establishes the vaguely Annie Hall-esque awkward patter mixed with social anxiety that will be her trademark for her upcoming character creations. Some have crudely commented on the film as a passing of the baton from Leigh to Gerwig in Baumbach’s life, with Leigh also appearing in the film, but I instead see a collision of personal and creative trajectories as Baumbach moves into more specific tones and more singular circumstances to base his films upon. Rhys Ifans plays a terrifically realised version of his Notting Hill character, but this time maximising on the reality and pain of that sort of outwardly persona. But overall bar some hilariously awkward and impeccably well-written extended sequences, Greenberg isn’t really a film that I return to. It’s core relationship between Gerwig and Stiller is an interesting one and is realistically presented, but ultimately comes to nothing narrativley and whereas the harsh “cut to black” ending  befits some of Baumbach’s other work brilliantly well, here it feels like a crutch to make more of an ending that wasn’t perhaps that great to begin with. But saying all this I really don’t want the opinion to come off as dismissive or overly negative, for I sincerely would still recommend this over many comedies and many dramas in the current landscape.

Frances Ha (2012)

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This delightful romp around New York is the first writing partnership of Baumbach’s previous actress Greta Gerwig, his then and current partner. The film is written by the two of them and follows Frances, a delightfully awkward and frustrating creation, brought to the screen by Gerwig herself. The film is remarkably stripped back to its bare essentials, shot in pristine black and white digitally. Shot low-key and covert, semi-guerrilla style in New York City streets, under the title Untitled digital workshop, all of this was to “boil it down to its barest bones” and “create an instant nostalgia” as put by Baumbach. This is achieved as in many senses the film shares its initial DNA with the brand of French new wave film that I usually can’t stand, flitting from incongruous scene based in improvisation and meandering dialogue delivered by characters we follow but don’t invest in. This is very much far from the case here, with Frances being caught in a prism of truly wondrous and painfully passive in all she does. The film’s writing is also far removed from the improv and aimlessness that we are used to with this brand of film. Here the dialogue is sharp in its wit and observation, aswell as upholding the realism that was so strived for in those earlier films. The film has no grandiose plot, but it does have a chief narrative thrust which helps the film’s pace and our investment with it. The main focuses of the film are Frances ever-adapting relationship with her best friend Sophie, played by the similarly delightful Micky Sumner. Other standouts along the way that we meet include a philandering Adam Driver and a failingly flirty Michael Zegen, aswell as a great little cameo from Kicking and Screaming’s Josh Hamilton, aswell as Gerwig’s own parents in a greatly heartfelt and quietly emotional Christmas at home montage. The film takes great glee to sit in the same vein as Kicking and Screaming  by exploring the real life issues that arise from the grand declarations and choices that can arise in Hollywood films, situating this time within the world of our dear Frances. Frances is a lovely little creation from Gerwig and Baumbach and it’s an absolute pleasure to send 86 minutes with her, with some cracking Bowie music selections along the way.

While We’re Young (2014)

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This film was my first exposure to Baumbach and through the clear influence of Woody Allen, James L. Brooks and Albert Brooks (no relation), I immediately felt as if I had found a filmmaker whom I would love from this point on. I was completely correct and a further afield exploration of the rest of Baumbach’s work only solidified this feeling for me. While this rompy great time comedy begins as a modernisation of a 30’s brand society farce, following a middle aged couple befriending and swiftly idolising a younger ‘hipster’ couple, it very gradually becomes simultaneously a thesis on artificiality in film (particularly in the world of the documentary), aswell as a mature and thoughtful rumination on youth and aging in marriage, friendship and familial relationships. Stiller is with us again, this time in the role of Josh, whose partner played Naomi Watts (originally Cate Blanchett was cast) is the daughter of a legendary documentary filmmaker played by Charles Grodin (fashioned as a sort of Pennebaker come Masyles). Their relationship comes to a pass when they meet Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, as Jamie and Darby, a younger and far more exuberant couple. In these earlier scenes, although lots of great dry comedy is present, some of the comments feel basic, particularly in the montages cutting between the older generation using newer technology and the younger relishing in the world of VHS’s and Vinyl. The film seems to be making a comment on youth, as its title and opening epigraph (from Wallace Shawn’s translation of Ibsen’s A Master Builder) would have us believe; but the relationships developed in this wackier first half give way to the drama of the second, with these generational struggles flaming the fires of the betrayals and arguments that are about to occur.  For me the second half is really when the film kicks into its gear and reveals what it’s really about, it's also here where the influence of Brooks (James L., not Albert, no relation) is most present. The film works as a reinterpretation of what was being presented by Brooks in his seminal film Broadcast News (also starring Albert Brooks, no re- You get the picture). Themes of doctoring and artificiality in mediums that present themselves as wholly truthful, all brought to a head by a figure trying to take advantage of the unspoken loopholes to make a career for themselves. The dialogue of William Hurt in Broadcast News would seriously not seem out of place in the mouth of Driver’s Jamie, especially his response to Holly Hunter’s Jane’s outburst; “You crossed the line!” – “It’s hard not to cross it. They just keep moving the little sucker”. Both characters are refereed impassionedly as “demons” and “devils” also.  While We’re Young is at once a very funny comedy, a provoking exploration of mediums and an endearing portrayal of a married couple at a crossroads with another – whilst also solidifying and perhaps even perfecting the melding of dry comedy and human drama that Baumbach has always been known for, but would grow to receive more acclaim as we reach his more recent features.

Mistress America (2015)

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The most recent collaboration between Gerwig and Baumbach is the 2015 screwball comedy drama Mistress America, from a script written by the both of them, and starring Gerwig as the future sister of university student Lola Kirke, with the impending marriage of their respective divorcee mother and father. For me this is Gerwig’s best performance, so blissfully shrill and oddly charismatic as Brooke, a slightly air-headed go getter with dreams of opening up her own restaurant. Kirke is great also as the foil to her bombastic character, playing everything a lot more subtly, whilst still having many moments for her character to really come into her own. The film flies by at a running time of 86 minutes, and is a real breezy watch. I guess that’s sort of why it’s a lesser piece for me in the Baumbach cannon, especially when compared to the brevity and similar economy of running time of The Squid and the Whale. Here everything is very on the mark and often very funny, with repeated touches of very odd humour, but it just seems a couple more drafts of an all out comedy like the previous year’s While We’re Young. Many critics like to comment upon the film’s centre piece as its biggest flaw; an extended sequence directly tapping the vein of the screwball comedies that Baumbach and Gerwig have so often commented as influences on their work. This sequence however works spectacularly well for me, with great and frequent moments of hilarity for all the supporting cast, with Mathew Shear’s Tony as a major standout. The marriage of Baumbach and Gerwig in the writer’s room really boosts the weaker elements of Frances Ha for me, but I also feel that the material and story just isn’t as strong overall. But still another great film overall, in the luminescent breadth of Baumbach’s career.

The Meyerwitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

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Some may not know that Baumbach also co-wrote with Wes Anderson on many of Anderson’s successful films, including the stop-motion masterpiece Fantastic Mr Fox. So the multiple surface level similarities between this 2017 Baumbach feature and Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums do interest me. Both films centre on the relationship two sons and daughter have with their brilliant, possibly ill and deeply estranged father, one of those sons being played by Ben Stiller and built around the narrative device of a book. But as I say these are surface level and Baumbach as he so often does is clearly going for something far more tangible and truthful, and less artificial in its presentation. The book framing device here serves more so as a structural element, rather than a key to the entire film and in many ways despite being the title of the film, it may be the film’s most nesercery aspect. Especially in regards to the films truly weakest aspect, it’s final twenty minutes which flit from brief scene to brief scene with an overabundance of fades to black, only to culminate in a meaningless moment commenting on the possibility of art living on after the artist. The film’s first hour and a half however are so wonderfully delivered and ingeniously created that one genuinely boggles after watching each of Baumbach’s films in a short space of time, about the extreme level of talent that this man does have inside. The ability to show genuine human relations without every sacrificing any perfectly judged humorous exchanges either, in many ways this is one of Baumbach’s funniest films, despite being sat alone whilst watching I genuinely burst out laughing multiple times; “Pam!” was a huge moment again on rewatch. It’s been noted before but when it comes to sheer level of perfection in human humour and drama presented on film all with a prevailing focus on economy, I can think of no better forerunner for a Woody Allen of our days than with Baumbach. The New York element does help with that matter also I guess. The dynamics between our actors here, in particular Adam Sandler, Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel are frankly sublime, and each of their interplays with Dustin Hoffman as the father are similarly stunted and terrific. All in all Baumbach makes a film that bristles with as much awkwardness, as it does truth, and is all the more brilliant for it.

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However two yeara ago, Baumbach released not only his best and most accomplished directorial and writing effort so far, but also one of the best films of the past ten years. At once both a devastating drama and farcical comedy, 2019’s Marriage Story, has stayed with me ever since I first watched it, and for that it deserves its own article, and it’ll get one next week with our fortnight series of six articles looking back on some of my favourite films of 2019 two years (and a whole pandemic) later. See you then.

-         - Thomas Carruthers