Showing posts with label Greta Gerwig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greta Gerwig. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Brilliant, She Wrote


The ladies are writing it for themselves. With Brit Marling paving her own way into Hollywood, first with thoughtful Sci Fi tinged drama, Another Earth, and now with the fun, trippy, enigmatic Sound of my Voice, ambitious indie actresses seem to be starting a very commendable trend of writing the parts they want to play.

Outside of Marling, Zoe Kazan (Elia Kazan's grand daughter) wrote, produced and stars in the smart & charming Ruby Sparks, Greta Gerwig co-wrote her career defining part in Frances Ha with boyfriend Noah Baumbach and Sarah Polley seems to have abandoned her promising career as an actress to write and direct  the remarkable stories she wants to tell instead; releasing two remarkable films back-to-back - melancholy relationship dramedy Take This Waltz and the much applauded, deeply personal pseudo-documentary The Stories We Tell.

Over in the world of television, Lena Dunham follows in the footsteps of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, taking the reigns of her own TV show - displaying either remarkable all-round talents or distinct control-freak tendencies, or both - as writer / director / producer / star of Girls. Since her acclaimed (in a Sundance kinda way) debut, writing, directing and starring in Tiny Furniture, Dunham has very much written her own significant success story and shows no sign of slowing down.

Hear hear to the young actresses ignoring, and re-writing, the fuzzy, chauvinist rules of Hollywood.



Thursday, September 20, 2012

Greta Gerwig makes her mark


After her brilliant, understated breakthrough in Noah Baumbach's Ben Stiller seriaas vehicle Greenberg, Greta Gerwig kept herself busy upstaging her headlining cast members in flop-ish commercial outings (No Strings Attached, Arthur) before signing off a fairly thankless Woody Allen role in To Rome with Love.

She's back on top form, though, in Whitt Stillman's stylised deadpan comedy Damsels in Distress and re-teaming with sort-of maybe probably boyfriend Baumbach to deliver a sly, reportedly career-best (for what that's worth) performance in Frances Ha, which she also co-wrote.



Friday, April 6, 2012

To Rome With Love - Trailer


With 44 movies in 46 years - & (with the exception of 1981) a film a year since 1977 - Woody Allen's prolificity never ceases to amaze, although it does result in him making at least as many terrible films as he does brilliant ones. The jury is still out on his latest, a Rome-set, multiple-story romantic comedy.

European love letters (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris) have served Woody well lately &, even though it is threatening to feel gimmicky, there is reason to hope that To Rome with Love will be vintage lighthearted Woody.

The movie reunites him with Judy Davis (how did she lose her Husbands & Wives Oscar to Marisa Tomei in that movie?!), Penelope Cruz, sprawling casts & multiple story lines & initiates two new faces that seem very well suited to the Allen universe: Ellen Page & Jesse Eisenberg. Cruz's sweet-natured hooker & Allen's strange insistence on perpetuating the college jock fantasy of bi-curious sexy girls seem a bit obvious, but generally I am ready to be convinced that this will be good, decently smart fun.