Mistress America (2015)

Mistress America: Directed by Noah Baumbach. With Lola Kirke, Shana Dowdeswell, Shelby Rebecca Wong, Alfred Macadam. A lonely college freshman’s life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.

“Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are at it again, u0026quot;itu0026quot; being what it means to be a 20- something in New York City. In u0026quot;Mistress America,u0026quot; however, the lens and perspective shifts away from the character youu0026#39;d expect a movie like to this to intimately follow (Gerwigu0026#39;s interesting, ambitious, never-boring Brooke) and instead observes her from an outsideru0026#39;s perspective (Tracy, played by Lola Kirke).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTracy is instead the main character, a Barnard freshman studying literature and writing, trying to make her way through that formidable (and familiar) landscape. Inspiration strikes, however, when she meets Brooke, her future step-sister. Brooke is around 30, and sheu0026#39;s been through the grinder both personally and professionally. She is an innovator who always has big ideas, and Tracy uses her life as the basis of a short story that she hopes will get her into the schoolu0026#39;s prestigious lit magazine. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThings get particularly interesting when Brooke finds herself locked out of her apartment one day and learns that her boyfriend has pulled all his financial support out of a restaurant they were just about to open together and she seeks a psychic for advice on where to turn next.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThrough this blossoming relationship between Tracy and Brooke we observe the typical indie film u0026quot;portrait of a Millennialu0026quot; in a way that both mythologizes it (evidenced by Tracyu0026#39;s story/perception of Brooke) and makes it hit home. Brooke is quirky and her life is a melodrama, but it also feels very real. Baumbach and Gerwigu0026#39;s previous collaboration, u0026quot;Frances Ha,u0026quot; also struck this seemingly contradictory chord of authenticity and whimsy. When there is a dissonance, itu0026#39;s softened by the knowledge that thereu0026#39;s such emotional truth at the core of what theyu0026#39;re doing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother way of putting it is that Baumbach and Gerwig arenu0026#39;t so interested in plot points and what happens. At less than 90 minutes, this movie about a relationship between a younger and older 20-something is not trying to show you something youu0026#39;ve never seen before. What they do care about is the trajectory of the relationships between characters. Itu0026#39;s hard not to see a piece of yourself in the characters, especially if youu0026#39;re of a similar age, and that holds our attention enough that u0026quot;Mistress Americau0026quot; doesnu0026#39;t fall apart, even when itu0026#39;s not especially compelling.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Mistress Americau0026quot; also tends to be be philosophical and angsty. The level of intellectual conversation is to a degree that rarely happens in real life, let alone in these perfect scene-length snippets, but again, like other parts of the film that gravitate closer to being over-the-top, the creative choice to lean that way comes from a strong and earnest desire to explore very relevant themes and ideas.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFrankly, Baumbach and Gerwig could tell a hundred different stories about coming of age in your 20s or 30s in a big city and Iu0026#39;d watch (especially at such a reasonable runtime). But even if you donu0026#39;t think you could, the effort they make to explore a unique u0026quot;relationshipu0026quot; between two women in u0026quot;Mistress Americau0026quot; and cast light on this familiar film from a new angle makes this particularly story worthwhile.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e~Steven Cu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more”