MISTRESS AMERICA
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig
Starring Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Seth Barrish, Michael Chernus
Lola Kirke plays a shy college freshman at Barnard College who learns her mother is about to marry Greta Gerwig’s father. They meet up and Kirke is immediately seduced by Gerwig’s apparent mastery of all thing New York. She is everything Kirke wishes to be although as adults we can easily spot the chinks in her couture.
To truly enjoy this film, it helps if you are a Gerwig fan and enjoyed her in the recent FRANCES HA. Her acting style is so particular to her performances that either you go with it or you resist. If you resist you begin to wonder how such a bright college student is so in awe of such a shallow, immature thirty-year old who is floundering nearly as much as her.
There are some truly funny scenes in MISTRESS AMERICA, but overall I have grown a bit tired of Gerwig’s bag of quirks. I would like to see her play a more nuanced, mature adult. Having said this, the people I saw it with were quire enamored of it. So maybe it’s me.
Patti Abbott
In addition to being the Crimespree Senior Film Critic, Patti has penned numerous short stories and her debut novel, CONCRETE ANGEL, is in stores now. She hosts a look at Forgotten Books every Friday with readers, writers and reviewers at pattinase.blogspot.com. She hopes you’ll join in.
