TIFF EXCLUSIVE
While We're Young
Director: Noah Baumbach
By Alex Watson
American director, Noah Baumbach is a different breed of film maker. In his movies such as The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg and more recently, Francis Ha, he has proven himself to be a film maker who never gives us characters we completely sympathize with but we are always drawn closer to. At the Toronto International Film Festival, he has brought us his new effort While We're Young which establishes the struggles an older married couple in the face of something new and exciting.
Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are a forty-something married yet childless couple living in New York. Their lives are soon altered though by the emergence of young and hip duo Jamie (Adam Driver) and his wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried) whose world they becoming increasingly drawn towards. But along the way, the couple begin to lose sight of who they really are and seem to strive to become new people. But amidst their awe and fascination, cracks begin to appear.
While We're Young is another funny and ultimately real offering from Noah Baumback and it efficiently tackles the issue of growing old. The movie begins with a cleverly placed series of lines from Ibsen's 'The Master Builder' where the character Solness expresses concern to his wife about letting a young couple through the front door. This foreshadows the story that follows it and Baumbach succeeds in giving the movie the off-the-wall but depressingly crushing feel of real life and relationships.
In typical fashion, the characters are not easy to warm to as Josh is a once promising documentarian who has wasted over 10 years making his think piece on America and its wars. Cornelia has suffered several miscarriages and is having trouble adapting to her friends all having babies when she feels her opportunity has now disappeared. Josh is a man who takes himself far too seriously, but yet he has a compelling desire to piece his bright future back together. Things are not helped by his strained relationship with acclaimed film maker father in law Leslie (Charles Grodin) whose style he has forever wanted to emulate but has become lost along the way.
The moment that Jamie and Darby enter their world, a bombshell hits as they are loving couple that likes all things retro such as VHS players, typewriters and quirky adventures on old subway lines. In spite of the fact that Josh and Cornelia are dazzled at how full of life they are, they cannot escape the fact that they are acting above their own years. In one scene, Josh attempts at riding a bicycle in a cool fashion, only for his back to give out and him later being informed he has arthritis! Although they begin to live again, the elder couple soon begins to question the world they live in and whether it is something they truly believe in.
Unfortunately although this is a raw and hilarious ride, things begin to go wayward in the movies second half and are not helped by some painful misguided comical moments such as bizarre religious ceremony where people barf out their demons into a bucket. Also Josh's increasing jealousy of Jamie's success making his new film and his desire to prove he is a fraud alienates him from the audience later on. But let's not forget everyone, Baumbach is never one to go easy on his characters in the movie's he makes.
Ben Stiller in his second effort alongside Baumbach does well as Josh. His usual sarcastic wit is very much present and it does prosper the characterization and gives a decent protrayal of a man who is chronically disappointed with wasting his gift. As Cornelia Naomi Watts is solid as usual as a woman almost drowning in her own childless world when all around her seems to be popping out kids! She also thrives on the movies more funny elements which showcase that this girl can be comedic when she needs to be.
Adam Driver firmly stamps his talent as one of Hollywood's new wave, fans of TV show Girls will be familiar with his ability to play hip yet mysterious characters and Jamie has been written just perfectly for him. His upcoming appearance in JJ Abrams' Star Wars movie will be one to look out for.
While We're Young is yet more proof that a Noah Baumbach film is a very different type of experience and will leaving coming out with a ticking brain and a belly full of laughs. In the long run this maybe won't be once of his more memorable efforts, but it will certainly rank as one that is more original.
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