Modern Love in B&W
Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy 19.-29.9.2013
LA Times recently pondered whether B&W cinema is making a comeback, and looking at the festival calendar it certainly looks like it. Added to that back in February Fincher’s music video for Suit & Tie impressed with its monochrome look (I would love to see him do a crime film in B&W).
Obviously a broad monochrome revolution is not on the cards, but it is becoming a minor trend for 2013. Helsinki International Film Festival’s programme has at least six new B&W films (some of them have color scenes): A Field in England, Blancanieves, Concrete Night (Betoniyö), Frances Ha, Much Ado About Nothing and Nebraska. Of these I’ve only seen the comedies Frances Ha and Nebraska, but I’m already a strong proponent of this fad. Advent of digital (cinemato)photography has made manipulation of color easier and thus more commonplace. B&W is a logical extension of the filter craze. And in my opinion it is far less distracting* and certainly more timeless.
Shooting in B&W has some budgetary benefits, and it must have been a major reason why it was chosen for Frances Ha. It was reportedly shot in near secrecy with a very small budget, light gear and inexpensive cameras. However, what they saved in tech was invested in acting. They did far more takes than usual, and it shows. The scenes feel lived in. Co-screenwriter and star of the film, Greta Gerwig is stunningly good as is Mickey Sumner (who is her best friend in the film — this friendship along her difficulty in starting a career is what it’s essentially about).
The script is a collaboration between Ms. Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, who also directed the film. They’re a couple in real life, and their alliance feels so vital that it’s as if it’s Gerwig’s film as much it’s Baumbach’s. When I first saw the film in Berlinale I tweeted the following:
I sure hope Baumbach continues to co-write as it produced Wes Anderson’s best work and now with Greta Gerwig lifts his work to a new level.
Unfortunately Noah Baumbach is not very well known in Finland. You may have laughed at his comedy in the Wes Anderson films he co-wrote: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and Fantastic Mr. Fox. His most well known work Squid and the Whale was only available on DVD (right now it’s available on Netflix if you’re interested). The film is a raw and hilarious look at a divorce from a child’s perspective. Compared to Frances Ha it’s mean and bitter. Even in his lesser known films Baumbach tends to get monotonic and cruel in their tone. All of that has vanished in the latest film, which makes Gerwig’s influence appear strong and crucial to the film. Added to that Frances Ha is the first succesful American film in awhile that doesn’t suggest getting married is the only key to happiness for a girl.
In some of the links provided above it’s inevitably compared to the HBO series Girls, but beyond age, race and the city they live in (NYC) the characters (in the film and the series) have very little in common. Fans of the show will most probably like the film, but people who hate the show should give it a chance as the film’s characters are far less annoying if not always 100% likeable.
As you may have guessed, I absolutely loved the film to bits. It is funny, moving and smart. Stylistically it has obviously been influenced by French cinema and Woody Allen’s Manhattan. In its acting though, it is something quite new.
Another B&W comedy by a more well known director Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) pleased me quite a bit as well. Nebraska is a quiet and slow portrait of small town America. Together with Frances Ha they form quite an interesting and contrasting view of the US in the 2010s, Nebraska being about the more neglected, older and poorer side.
Over both of them looms the slow economy, and the difficulty of finding work. In a lot of ways they’re total opposites of course. The comedy is very different in both, as is the landscape and the intended age group. Frances is in a time period where people find their friends and lovers most close to heart, whereas Nebraska is really about family ties. Frances travels to Sacramento and Paris from her home in Brooklyn (using credit she can’t afford), but in Nebraska, as you might guess from the title, Woody (Bruce Dern) doesn’t venture far but what sets him in motion is the delusion that he’s won a million dollars.
Nebraska is by no means Payne’s finest work, but as the film grows older its view of humans is crystallised. And somehow I think it wants to be seen with Frances Ha.
