People were amazed: a new force has risen in New York cinema.
[Authentic New Yorker]
There is a restaurant called "Bar Pitti" in the West Village of New York, which old New Yorkers love to go to. Rich people who first arrived in New York like to live in the Waldorf Astoria, and look for three-star restaurants with the Michelin Guide. Authentic New York restaurants like "Bar Pitti" are hard to find. And Noah Baumbach is a regular at "Bar Pitti".
The West Village is a famous art district. There are many writers, painters and filmmakers living in the West Village. Most of them are foreigners from New York. For example, Chen Danqing and Ai Weiwei live in the West Village. New York accommodated these artists with high prices and a relaxed cultural atmosphere. Baumbach is different, a native New Yorker.
In 1969, Noah Baumbach was born into a high-level intellectual family in Brooklyn. His father was a Jew and a novelist, and his mother was a famous critic of "Village Voice" magazine. Noah and their children ranked third. After graduating with a BA from Vassar College in 1991, he joined The New Yorker as a correspondent. In front of him, the smooth path of life has been paved, becoming a reporter or editor, writing, becoming famous... the typical growth trajectory of a New York intellectual, but Noah gently shaken off the established track, and he wants to become a filmmaker.
In 1995, at the age of 26, Baumbach made his debut film "Twenty Years of Madness," a life comedy starring an idle college graduate. The film, starring Josh Hamilton, was selected for the New York Film Festival. With this film, the young Baumbach was successfully promoted to the New York film industry. In the next few years, he launched "Mr. Jealousy", "Highball" and "Thirty", all of which were written and directed by himself, so he met director Peter Bodanovich and his friend Wes Anderson, and with them Forged a lifelong friendship.
Noah moved to the West Coast after marrying actress Jennifer Jason Leigh in 2005. In 2005, he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for the hugely successful Squid and the Whale, and also earned him a chance to work with big stars - Nicole Kidman and Jack Black, John · "Margot at the Wedding" starring Turturro, the film received mixed reviews and poor box office performance. In 2010, he invited his friend Ben Stiller to film Greenberg. After filming, he and his wife separated and returned to New York. "Francis Ha" and "Youth" have been filmed successively, and the new film "American Lover" is in preparation.
Due to his New York background, Noah is often asked, "Are you a New York filmmaker?" To which he replies, "I don't label myself New York. When I came back to New York from Los Angeles, When I made Francis Ha, I wasn't so confident about making a New York film. Maybe it was because of my age, but I felt that making films about New York was where I belonged. I started shooting New York again, and it was black and white . The texture of black and white films changed the way I looked at things, reminding me of the various scenes of New York in my childhood.”
[Baumbach Three Must-Sees]
Noah Baumbach has a variety of professional identities, screenwriter or writer is before the director. First of all, he wrote and wrote all the films he directed, and secondly, while directing, he also wrote scripts for other films, including his friend Wes Anderson's "Life in the Water", "Fantastic Daddy Fox", Hollywood commercial film "Madagascar 3" ", etc., his excellent text structure ability is not unrelated to his family's influence.
Baumbach has been widely criticized for a long time: his films will have a shadow of himself more or less. Especially the early films can basically be regarded as personal autobiographies. When you look at Baumbach's work from a broader perspective, it's rash and irresponsible to label him simply as "Woody Allen heir." He's not the same as Wes Anderson. As a famous pair of good friends in New York, Wes Anderson's films are full of juvenile spirit and prosperous and exaggerated style. The characters, whether adults or children, show the whimsical character of about fourteen years old and the thoughts of about forty years old. Be a pie; Baumbach is a missile flying close to the ground, tightly grasping reality and focusing on the inner world of intellectuals.
Baumbach was named one of the "10 New Faces of 1996" by Newsweek, just a year after his debut. But 2005's "The Squid and the Whale" was his first work that really caught the attention of critics. The film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 78th Academy Awards, opening the door to Hollywood for him. But the process of its birth is ill-fated. The first draft of the script was completed in 2000, but funds have never been found. According to Wes Anderson, Baumbach was quite frustrated during that time. So one time on the way home from a party, Anderson took the initiative to invite Baumbach to write a French naturalist's play with him, which was later "Life in the Water".
In 2004, "The Squid and the Whale" was finally released. The film may have been altered based on the personal experiences of Noah and his brother, with a young Jesse Jessenberg playing the role of Noah's brother. Their family is on the verge of disintegration. The novelist father's career is declining, and the mother is a rising literary star. The brothers fight each other on the side of their parents. The seemingly peaceful life hides huge contradictions. Squid and whale are two giant animals that live in water, they fight and tangle with each other, symbolizing that marriage and conflict are an inseparable whole. The young Baumbach provided a wonderful metaphor for married life.
2010's "Greenberg," Baumbach's last film in Los Angeles. Ben Stiller plays a carefree, rock-n-roll member of the wealthy Greenberg family who is now a cynical carpenter with a midlife crisis. He accepts his brother's invitation to go on vacation to Los Angeles, accompanied only by his brother's personal female assistant (Greta Gerwig). People from two different worlds have very different personalities, and there are sparks in getting along.
Complaining about the airline, complaining about Starbucks, complaining about the pet hospital, Ben Stiller plays an angry child full of dissatisfaction with his surroundings, a giant baby spoiled by the world; and Greta Gerwig is a A girl who never refuses any life's blows, so lovable and lovely as if she has the ability to heal on her own. The story is a bit Woody Allen's grotesque, and Raymond Carver's heavy insight into life. The film was selected for the Berlin Golden Bear that year.
Baumbach's biggest gain in filming "Greenberg" is undoubtedly Greta Gerwig, the beauty and talent of the American independent film industry, the goddess of the "Mumblecore" movement. Once the film was completed, Baumbach separated from his wife and returned to New York to form a romantic and writing partnership with Greta Gerwig. Two years later, the two co-written film "Francis Ha" was released. This is a black and white film that is sought after by young literary and artistic women all over the world, in which Baumbach's complex emotions about New York are mixed. His camera language is more and more free to pay tribute to the new wave, touching New York and the heroine affectionately; And Greta Gerwig not only contributed an outstanding performance, but also a deep insight into the life and psychology of contemporary youth in New York, a little embarrassing, but a little humorous. The two had a wonderful chemistry on their first screenwriting collaboration.
"Francis Ha" is the first time that Baumbach has a female as the first protagonist of a film, and there is absolutely no trace of the director's own life. It is the most vivid portrayal of New York in a decade since Woody Allen escaped to Europe. Everyone will be deeply impressed by the scene of Greta Gerwig running and dancing on the streets of New York. She runs so cheerfully, carefree, full of youth and hope, no one will not be moved. "Francis Ha" is Baumbach's first entry into the "Cinebooks" ten best films of the year.
[Q&A Baumbach]
Noah Baumbach's latest "Youth" has refocused on the mental world of intellectual anxiety. Still cooperating with Ben Stiller, and fresh blood such as Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried joined. "Youth" tells the life of a middle-aged filmmaker husband and wife, Ben Stiller plays a documentary director with pursuit and anxiety, who is making a documentary that has not been completed for nine years. With the arrival of middle age, the friends around them gradually entered the family life, so the couple and another young couple got closer and closer. Who knows that the story is far from being as simple as the surface... In the film, Baumbach not only depicts the intellectual's life Midlife Crisis and Age Anxiety also focuses on the relationship between art and authenticity.
A brief interview with Baumbach on "When Young":
Q: Are you a nostalgic person?
A: I don't think I am. I do get a little sentimental seeing the seasons change, just like the smell of a car exhaust, you get a bit of a punch. In a sense, all the films I direct are about my childhood experiences, whether the stories I shoot are my childhood or not.
Q: Seriously, your mom is a former film critic, but you really don't read any reviews about you?
A: On the Internet, it is very difficult to concentrate on reading one thing. Read and read and you'll always see sites like the Daily Mail go up, so you might as well just turn off the comments.
Q: How did you balance your relationship with Greta Gerwig? Do you feel the need to protect your sense of self as a filmmaker relative to a couple?
A: I don't think our relationship is what you say it is. I love making movies with her, and we'll make more movies together. These films belong to me and are also her work. I don't see any difference between the two.
Q: Tired of hearing that she brought your film back to life?
A: If you don't say it, I haven't heard it at all (laughter). Let people guess what they want...
Published in "World Film Illustrated"
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