While We're Young (2014)
Country: US
Technical: col 97m
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin
Synopsis:
A New York couple of forty-somethings meets a younger couple drawn to the husband's work as a documentarian, and invests in what to begin with promises to be a rejuvenating relationship, at the expense of their long-term acquaintances.
Review:
Baumbach's deployment of Allenesque elements - the documentary thing (Crimes and Misdemeanors), the hip-hop classes and shamanism (Husbands and Wives) - is at the service of a more profound insight into the process of ageing as not simply a physical process but an adherence to a distinct set of values. The decision not to have children is seen as consigning Josh and Cornelia to a no-man's land in which nothing moves forward, save the inevitable obsolescence. At the same time, when they finally make that choice and 'excuse' Jamie's behaviour as the product of youth, one cannot help feeling cheated by the film's moral equivocation: the Driver character has, after all, performed the classic confidence sting on Stiller's, taking advantage of his vulnerability and pride while riding on the coat tails of his reputation and contacts. If that doesn't merit opprobrium, I don't know what does. To take the Ibsen quote at the start at face value, Josh's 'opening the door to the young' ought to be healthy for him, but he makes the mistake of embracing them as equals. Which is where parenthood comes in.
Country: US
Technical: col 97m
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin
Synopsis:
A New York couple of forty-somethings meets a younger couple drawn to the husband's work as a documentarian, and invests in what to begin with promises to be a rejuvenating relationship, at the expense of their long-term acquaintances.
Review:
Baumbach's deployment of Allenesque elements - the documentary thing (Crimes and Misdemeanors), the hip-hop classes and shamanism (Husbands and Wives) - is at the service of a more profound insight into the process of ageing as not simply a physical process but an adherence to a distinct set of values. The decision not to have children is seen as consigning Josh and Cornelia to a no-man's land in which nothing moves forward, save the inevitable obsolescence. At the same time, when they finally make that choice and 'excuse' Jamie's behaviour as the product of youth, one cannot help feeling cheated by the film's moral equivocation: the Driver character has, after all, performed the classic confidence sting on Stiller's, taking advantage of his vulnerability and pride while riding on the coat tails of his reputation and contacts. If that doesn't merit opprobrium, I don't know what does. To take the Ibsen quote at the start at face value, Josh's 'opening the door to the young' ought to be healthy for him, but he makes the mistake of embracing them as equals. Which is where parenthood comes in.
Country: US
Technical: col 97m
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin
Synopsis:
A New York couple of forty-somethings meets a younger couple drawn to the husband's work as a documentarian, and invests in what to begin with promises to be a rejuvenating relationship, at the expense of their long-term acquaintances.
Review:
Baumbach's deployment of Allenesque elements - the documentary thing (Crimes and Misdemeanors), the hip-hop classes and shamanism (Husbands and Wives) - is at the service of a more profound insight into the process of ageing as not simply a physical process but an adherence to a distinct set of values. The decision not to have children is seen as consigning Josh and Cornelia to a no-man's land in which nothing moves forward, save the inevitable obsolescence. At the same time, when they finally make that choice and 'excuse' Jamie's behaviour as the product of youth, one cannot help feeling cheated by the film's moral equivocation: the Driver character has, after all, performed the classic confidence sting on Stiller's, taking advantage of his vulnerability and pride while riding on the coat tails of his reputation and contacts. If that doesn't merit opprobrium, I don't know what does. To take the Ibsen quote at the start at face value, Josh's 'opening the door to the young' ought to be healthy for him, but he makes the mistake of embracing them as equals. Which is where parenthood comes in.