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 In cinemas Thursday [MA15+]
Director: Noah Baumbach
Runtime: 107mins.
There’s nothing better than a Ben Stiller film for people who hate Ben Stiller films – and Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg ably matches that description. A simultaneously dry and raw meditation on getting older and realising life hasn’t quite lived up to your expectations, Zoolander it ain’t, but that isn’t to say it’s devoid of subtle humour.
Baumbach’s previous films The Squid & The Whale and Margot At The Wedding displayed an arch but not unsympathetic exploration of family dysfunction, and with Greenberg he continues the theme but narrows the focus to two characters. Roger Greenberg (Stiller) is an aging ex-musician turned carpenter who holes up in his successful brother’s LA house to recover from a recent nervous breakdown. The brother’s maid/nanny/personal assistant Florence (‘mumblecore’ indie cinema regular Greta Gerwig) is a benign young woman who sings in her spare time, but has no real life direction or ability to switch off her openness. Asked to be Greenberg’s gopher, the two slowly begin to connect with each other, but not in any typically romantic way.
You see, Greenberg’s a bit of a jerk. Self-centered and clearly damaged, it’s an effort for him to exhibit a single likable quality. Having lived in New York for many years, his idiosyncrasies are heightened in Los Angeles; his fish-out-of-water status apparent as he walks the streets laden with grocery bags in a town where everyone drives a car, and nearly drowning as he navigates a backyard pool. While he’s seeking sexual solace – in a spectacularly unsexy way – with Florence, he’s also hoping to reconnect with an old flame, Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Baumbach’s partner and the film’s co-writer), but she appears to pity him for his mid-life neediness and ignorance of responsibility more than anything. He also meets up with former bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans), whose marriage is failing, much to Greenberg’s uncomfortable glee. Ivan still holds some resentment at Greenberg for splitting their band on the cusp of a major record deal, but seems willing enough to spend time with his old friend. And so do we, as viewers, oddly. Greenberg’s anxieties, selfishness and awkwardness with those around him are scarily embodied by Stiller – yet while the character is hard to like, the sadness at his core inspires empathy, almost in spite of his many failings. A scene towards the film’s end, with Greenberg at an LA teen hipster party, is so filled writhing embarrassment that you would be a stone not to feel for him.
Even with Stiller at the centre, there’s a wonderfully unforced naturalness to the film, much of it thanks to Gerwig, who so inhabits Florence it barely seems if she’s acting. Ifans is similarly excellent, showing a maturity in performance that offsets his scruffy hair and reputation as that crazy Welsh guy from Notting Hill. There’s also a certain courage shown with the film’s handling of an unplanned pregnancy that offers none of the moralistic judgment implied in films like Knocked Up, and it leads, against all odds, into a final scene of such compassion and emotional respite that you’ll be moved by how human the characters are.
LCD Soundsystem fans should also watch for the blink-and-you’ll-miss it appearance by the film’s soundtrack composer James Murphy, who, like Greenberg, knows a thing or two about the fears of losing your edge.
****
TOPHER HEALY
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