Watashi
03-19-2008, 12:32 AM
I think it needs it's own thread.
"It's meant to be funny" says Malcolm, an unemployed musician wannabe, after referring to leaving only his mustache after he shaved his beard. The same could be said about the film Malcolm inhabits. It's meant to be funny, but only to Baumbach's characters and no one else. Margot at the Wedding is a Rohmerian take on dysfunctionalism between two sisters who haven't spoken a word to each other in two years. The Queen Bee of the film, Margot, is a pathetic author who lives in NYC with her puberty-developing son, Claude. She has a venomous tongue she uses to lash out against those who are ill-equipped to coexist with her constantly shrinking bubble of hers.
I have been quite peachy with Noah Baumbach for his first two films and his work with Wes Anderson. He can play the nasty card (seen his 2005 semi-autobiographical film, The Squid and the Whale), but he also carries a certain charm, knowing that his characters are on the path towards hell, but at least they are enjoying the ride. He does employ a steady level of "realism" in his characters, but in Margot, he substitutes all of this with a neverending banter of crass remarks and games. I've met some Margots in my life, but I would never want to stay near them, and God knows that I need to see a two hour film dedicated to their bickering and emotionless begging. It's a torturous experience being at a family reunion with people you hate, and this is what Baumbach achieves.
It's open to discussion whether we are suppose to sympathize with these characters, but I'm clearly not on their side of sympathy. What was with the point of the Deliverance neighbors to counter-act Margot's family by saying "see, to these people, Margot is an angel!". Ugh. How many times is Baumbach going to force awkward situations in our face so we get the point that these people share a different set of morals than the average American. This is a morally disgusting film with a core of off-the-wall dialogue that is not funny. There's a sister named Becky who is never shown, but apparently there was hinted of sexual abuse involving rape when they were younger. After the girls laugh about the memories of their sister getting raped, I paused for a moment, and thought to myself, "am I suppose to be laughing at this crap?".
This isn't a review, but more of an extended rant from what I gathered from Stephanie Zacharek's review here (http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/11/16/margot/).
"It's meant to be funny" says Malcolm, an unemployed musician wannabe, after referring to leaving only his mustache after he shaved his beard. The same could be said about the film Malcolm inhabits. It's meant to be funny, but only to Baumbach's characters and no one else. Margot at the Wedding is a Rohmerian take on dysfunctionalism between two sisters who haven't spoken a word to each other in two years. The Queen Bee of the film, Margot, is a pathetic author who lives in NYC with her puberty-developing son, Claude. She has a venomous tongue she uses to lash out against those who are ill-equipped to coexist with her constantly shrinking bubble of hers.
I have been quite peachy with Noah Baumbach for his first two films and his work with Wes Anderson. He can play the nasty card (seen his 2005 semi-autobiographical film, The Squid and the Whale), but he also carries a certain charm, knowing that his characters are on the path towards hell, but at least they are enjoying the ride. He does employ a steady level of "realism" in his characters, but in Margot, he substitutes all of this with a neverending banter of crass remarks and games. I've met some Margots in my life, but I would never want to stay near them, and God knows that I need to see a two hour film dedicated to their bickering and emotionless begging. It's a torturous experience being at a family reunion with people you hate, and this is what Baumbach achieves.
It's open to discussion whether we are suppose to sympathize with these characters, but I'm clearly not on their side of sympathy. What was with the point of the Deliverance neighbors to counter-act Margot's family by saying "see, to these people, Margot is an angel!". Ugh. How many times is Baumbach going to force awkward situations in our face so we get the point that these people share a different set of morals than the average American. This is a morally disgusting film with a core of off-the-wall dialogue that is not funny. There's a sister named Becky who is never shown, but apparently there was hinted of sexual abuse involving rape when they were younger. After the girls laugh about the memories of their sister getting raped, I paused for a moment, and thought to myself, "am I suppose to be laughing at this crap?".
This isn't a review, but more of an extended rant from what I gathered from Stephanie Zacharek's review here (http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/11/16/margot/).