Review: While We're Young

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★

Very few filmmakers are able to correctly capture the essence of living in modern Middle America. Noah Baumbach is one of those filmmakers. And while the main characters of his latest feature “While We’re Young” are living comfortably well in New York City, they still face all the same issue everyone of us – rich and poor – must face: getting older.

Ben Stiller stars as Josh, a middle-aged documentary filmmaker married without children to Cornelia (Naomi Watts). Despite not having any kids, Josh and Cornelia have fallen into a slump of only going to one event whenever they have a night out and a general lack of spontaneity. Josh has taken almost 10 years to complete his latest movie and it’s still not done. But all this changes when Josh meets a young couple while giving a less-than-stellar lecture about film at one of the local universities. Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried) are a couple of hipsters living life as simple – or maybe as ironic – as possible. Jamie is a wannabe filmmaker while Darby makes her own ice cream. In a social setting, they’d rather just not know the answer to a question that comes up during conversation rather than Google the answer on their phone.

Suddenly, Josh and Cornelia are energized hanging around these two. They see how much fun life can be when you just live life without worrying about a need to find success. Of course, everyone does have desires in life, and Jamie’s desire is to be a documentarian much like Josh, and even more so like Josh’s legendary documentarian father-in-law Leslie (Charles Grodin). Jamie wants Josh’s help putting together a very ill-conceived idea for a film. Josh has never been a great collaborator before, but he’s willing to give it shot for once in his life. For the first time in a long time, Josh feels young and untouchable again.

Of course, not everyone in Josh and Cornelia’s life sees their new found youthfulness as attractive. Longtime friends and first time parents Marina (Maria Dizzia) and Fletcher (Adam Horovitz aka Ad-Rock of Beastie Boys fame) don’t understand this newfound interest in people in their early-to-mid twenties. Why can’t Josh and Cornelia just have a kid and act their age? Because walking the abandoned tracks of a subway line for no purpose whatsoever is much more fun.

“While We’re Young” is an honest look at the lives people of two different generations are living now. There may be a certain level of jealousy from each group toward the other, but none of it should be detrimental. The film chooses to not explore the realities of getting older, but rather the purpose of evaluating where you are in your life every now and then.

Baumbach sets up his story perfectly in the beginning, and keeps his short and fast paced script on theme for the remainder of the film. We should come to expect no less from him at this stage in his career. He continues to turn out well-written films time and time again. It would also appear that “While We’re Young” could be slightly autobiographical for him to an extent. After all, he always surrounds himself with talent younger than he is, like the impeccable Greta Gerwig in his 2013 feature “Frances Ha.” She’s absent in this film, but he makes do without her.

Here, Baumbach casts exceptional younger talent in Driver and Seyfried and pairs them with veterans like Watts and Stiller. (I’ll still refer to Seyfried as “young talent” despite her being in mega productions for over a decade now.) Stiller especially shines here. He turned in one of the best performances of his career with another Baumbach film “Greenberg” but tops that here. The scenes and moments that Driver and Stiller share are exceptional, especially in moments where Stiller provides terrific reaction to the interesting situations he finds himself in with his younger counterpart.

“While We’re Young” has a moving message, but it’s cleverly buried inside a story that is filled with so much genuine humor that it never feels forced. And of course Baumbach’s brilliance is on full display as usual. It’s a film that moves along quick, complete with characters full of empathy. Each viewer should find something familiar in at least one of the main roles. It’s a very enjoyable film and is truly funny. It may lack the masterful stroke as some of Baumbach’s previous work (see “Frances Ha”) but it’s still a very smart comedy about people trying to live their lives in the face of growing old. We may grow older everyday, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to slow down our lives just because of an arbitrary number known as age.

Review: Birdman

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★★

“Birdman” is a true original. It’s a rambunctious dark comedy that plays more like the lucid dream of a schizophrenic rather than a straightforward story. And I loved everything about it.

Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thompson, a washed up Hollywood movie star whose most famous days are behind him. He’s most famous for playing a superhero named Birdman in a highly successful franchise. He’s trying to reinvent his career by adapting, directing and starring in his own play on Broadway. As the story begins, Riggan is having difficulties with one of his supporting actors. An accident gives Riggan the chance to replace him. Thanks to help from his costar Lesley (Naomi Watts) and his agent/best friend Jake (Zach Galifianakis) Riggan is able to get Broadway superstar Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) in his play.

Shiner’s presence initially invigorates Riggan, but subsequently starts driving him insane. Shiner is here to steal the show away because he’s the top Broadway star and despises actors from Hollywood. Shiner also complicates matters when he shows an interest in Riggan’s daughter Sam (Emma Stone), who is trying to restart her own life following a bit of a rough patch. 

Talk about a film that just bursting with originality. "Birdman" is an exhilarating film to watch thanks to the wonderful and very original vision of filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Originality is nothing new for Iñárritu. He’s directed some films that were very innovative at the time of their release, such as the fantastic “Amores Perros” and the shuffled up narrative “21 Grams.” This is yet another masterpiece to be added to his very successful career. His script is brilliantly crafted alongside his recent writing partners Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo, and new writer Alexander Dinelaris. There isn’t one second of uninteresting dialogue or unnecessary filler.

The film is frantically paced and refuses to let up. It’s nearly two hours in length, but it never feels like it. The frantic pace is punctuated by a spastic jazz score from Antonio Sanchez, a Mexican jazz drummer who has never composed for film before. The music sets the tone for the film better than anything else I’ve seen this year. It’s as unyielding as the script.

One of the most original ideas about “Birdman” is the decision to make the film appear as though it’s been captured in one seamless take. Emmanuel Lubezki is the cinematographer tasked to make this happen, and he’s pulled it off beautifully. Lubezki is the cinematographer who captured all the breathtaking shots from last year’s “Gravity,” and I believe he has outdone himself here. Both are certainly challenging films to make, but “Birdman” doesn’t have the same reliance on CGI as “Gravity.” With the exception of a couple cuts right at the beginning and the end, the entire bulk of the narrative shows no visible cuts. The camera is in a constant state of motion.

The seamlessness of the film’s camera movements can also be attributed to film editors Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione, both who have worked with Iñárritu before, most notably on “Babel.” These editors have hidden all the cuts to make the film come across as one free flowing image. Sure, there are films that have been made where everything was captured in just one take, but this type of narrative wouldn’t have worked like that. “Birdman” is eye candy for anyone who loves a well-photographed film.

Keaton has never been better. He’s had some memorable roles throughout his career, but “Birdman” will go down as his greatest performance. He’s a tormented man who just wants to be remembered for something great. We can all relate to that, right? But I’m not sure from where Keaton was able to pull such a tortured performance. Maybe he really feels this way after playing such characters as Batman and Beetlejuice? It’s probably difficult for casting directors to look at him and think audiences won’t be able take him seriously. It’s not like Keaton is in multiple movies each year. It might be very difficult for him. If that’s where this darkness is coming from, then this is the perfect role for him to tackle. He’s mesmerizing to watch.

The rest of the cast turn in equally fantastic performances that help make this one of the best ensembles assembled this year. Stone turns in a career-best performance as Keaton’s equally tormented daughter. She’ll have a lot to live up to moving forward in her career. Norton is turns in a memorable performance for the first time in a long time. It’s hard to identify a primary antagonist in the story, but Norton makes a good case and he excels at it. The scenes with him and Keaton are among the film’s most memorable. Even Galifianakis leaves behind his usual comedic shtick and actually plays the role. While his appearance isn’t altered in any way, he’s unrecognizable in his role thanks to such a solid performance.

“Birdman” is such an exhilarating ride and one of the year’s best films. This film could have easily been made just as straightforward as any other film, but it's Iñárritu’s artistic vision that makes this film so much more enjoyable. There’s a distinct amount of electricity running through this movie that’s missing in so many others. Cinema is supposed to be an emotionally moving visual art form, and so many filmmakers have forgotten this. But not Iñárritu. He continues to outdo himself time and time again. “Birdman” is his best work. And it's Keaton's best work. And it's one of the best films of 2014.