Sometimes a film comes along and swiftly kicks you in the chest. Greenberg is the first to do the honor for me in several months. It's about adulthood and how we attempt to stay afloat in it's murky waters of pain, compromise and regrets. Roger Greenberg(Ben Stiller) is having a hard time keeping his head above those waters, just like he does the pool in the back of his brother's LA home. Progress being something he knows nothing of, as his adult life has been him swimming in place.
He returns to Los Angeles after 15 years in New York. At 25, he ruined a record contract for his band because of stubborn and selfish behavior. It's as if he was in a hyperbolic chamber for those 15 years and came out to see an ever changing environment in which he doesn't belong. He's in such denial over his alienation from that event and unspoken others, that he stopped advancing and curled inward. He's fresh out of a mental hospital which may have been the result of his mother's death. He does his best to shield his wounds through defense mechanisms, but it results in pushing others away. The inherit sadness and empathy we feel for him comes through his need for human connection.
Before we're introduced to Greenberg, we meet Florence Marr(Greta Gerwig), the personal assistant to his brother's family. The film begins as she does monotonous errands with a palpable indifference. Driving from destination to destination while deep in thought. We can tell that she isn't living the life she had planned. The camera gets a close profile of her from the side while driving, as if she's traveling through time and space. Her life passing her by as her aspirations pass her by. There is no car, only her and the passing background.
Writer-Director Noah Baumbach has proven again that he has a keen eye for human behavior and the relationship dynamics that stem from it. He doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable or embarassing. His writing is sharp, witty and filled with nuance. It would be hard for any actor to do his words wrong, but luckily for the audience, he's cast a group of actors perfectly allotted for their roles. Though Ben Stiller is known for his over the top improv shtick, Baumbach has reeled him in and shown his full potential as an actor. His performance is reminiscent of Adam Sandler's in Punch Drunk Love. Both being improv actors not known for their acting chops nor for their understatement — given the right direction and fully realized characters to play. Both having a hard time covering up their hurt and in need of love and understanding.
While Stiller's performance is the best he's ever given, he's nearly blown out of the water from relative unknown, Greta Gerwig. She gives a performance both affecting and effortless. She is Florence Marr. Her imperfections are both familiar and endearing. She's not a polished, overly trained Hollywood starlet with a too-thin frame. Florence stumbles on her words, has a body language lacking in assurance, but has confidence in her self-awareness. Greta is a refreshing actress to watch and in the scenes she's not in, you miss her as you would someone you love. It's a trait few actresses have, especially in a film of this quality.
Another great character in the film is Los Angeles. Harris Savides' photography is naturalistic and alive. It has the look and feel of the realism many films in the 70's captured. He uses little lighting and presents the film's world minus artifice. The sunshine piercing through the smog to create a soft lighting matches the character of Greenberg. He can be a mean and insensitive person but there are moments in which his caring nature comes through the obscured shield he puts on. Like Florence, Savides and Baumbach display an empathy toward Greenberg through the camerawork that helps the audience root for someone that's a defensive asshole on the surface.
Greenberg isn't for all tastes, especially those expecting a typical Ben Stiller movie. Baumbach allows the characters to determine the plot as opposed to the other way around. With Greenberg, it marks another entry into Noah Baumbach's filmography of dysfunctional people and their struggle for happiness and understanding. He's a filmmaker aiming for the truths that ties us together. He takes a banal idiom like "Hurt people hurt people" and gives it a whole new context and perspective.
Before the showing, I read comments on the film in the lobby and there were many visceral reactions on both spectrums. Even for those that strongly disliked it, they might at least acknowledge the movie allows them to leave the theater feeling something. It may not be the feeling they expected, but in life when does anything happen as such? Like Greenberg's friend Ivan says, "You're finally embracing the life you never planned on." It may not be the movie you planned on, but it's one you should embrace.
