Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Kicking and Screaming / USA / 1995

After a few minutes it’s pretty easy to see why some would consider Noah Baumbach’s debut film to represent the best qualities of 90s American Independent Movies, while others would consider it to be the perfect embodiment of everything that was offensive about the same period of American filmmaking. I’m decidedly part of the former as I found Kicking and Screaming to be simultaneously hilarious, terrifying (it often feels like a horror), and all too familiar.

Part of the appeal is that Baumbach maintains a decisively critical perspective of his characters (a trait that I felt was sometimes lacking in Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan) without being overly callous of their circumstances. In a Noah Baumbach film, it always feels as if Baumbach understands that his characters are behaving immaturely and making poor decisions, but he’s willing to sympathize with the situations in which they make such choices and he accommodates their conduct accordingly without excusing their actions. Thus, it’s not a real surprise that critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum compare Baumbach’s debut to Jean Renoir’s work, even if the comparison initially sounds ridiculous and inappropriate. On a related note, from a purely technical standpoint, it is interesting to watch Baumbach emulate the long takes and fluid camerawork of Renoir, Lubitsch, and Sturges when capturing his characters rambling conversations.

What’s especially charming is that Baumbach allows his own experience to dissolve into his films. When Grover finally resolves to take a risk and relinquish his solipsistic existence he’s thwarted by the fact that the world grows impatient with young men delaying maturity for comfort and he must quickly realize that fate doesn’t always allow for spontaneous decisions and impulsive gestures as a method of apology. It’s this moment of defeat that feels genuinely infused with acumen and it certainly displays the fingerprints of experience. Credit should also be given for a young filmmaker confident enough in the performance of his actors to close on the awkward instant of potential rather than suddenly providing gratification.

Of course, that pop-culture game-show diversion that the characters frequently engage in is just painful to endure.

Full Review

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Criterion Collection DVD
06 Sep 2006 5:24 PM | Submit Comment