A Director Profile: Noah Baumbach

It's not that Noah Baumbach is my favorite director working today or even one of my favorite directors working today. No, he's not. Not really, at least. You see, he caught my attention when I caught his co-screenwriting credit while watching The Life Aquatic, the Wes Anderson movie. See, at the time (circa 2004), I was hugely into Wes Anderson. I remember my excitement when I actually found Bottle Rocket on a movie channel. It was the only movie I hadn't seen from him. So, as The Life Aquatic was about to come out, I had seen all his movies and I was expecting the best. Unfortunately I had to wait until the DVD came out because nobody wanted to see it with me when it came out on the big screen. I wasn't really too high on the movie when I finally saw it and I found the direction that he was taking was peculiar. I mean, The Royal Tenenbaums was by all means a pretty dry movie, but it was a dark movie. The darkest movie Wes Anderson had made... it also was an amazing movie. I dug it all the way through. I felt the humor was right for the tone of the movie. But, The Life Aquatic just felt dry to me... plain and dry. Then I looked and saw that it wasn't co-written by Owen Wilson, but Noah Baumbach. "Who is this guy?" I thought.

Luckily, Baumbach's movie The Squid and the Whale came out on DVD not too long after and of course I had to check it out. This was purely a Noah Baumbach film. What did this guy have to offer? Well, a very deep, profound, wonderfully personal film. The Squid and the Whale was just such a revelation to me. I could relate to it on so many levels. It spoke to me unlike any other film at the time. Yes, the humor was dry, but the characters were so well-written that it worked for me. Then I watched The Life Aquatic a second time and it all made sense to me. This was a very character-driven film. See, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums focused primarily on a number of different characters and all their little eccentricities. It was the close attention to those details that made them so interesting. But, The Life Aquatic was really just about Steve Zissou. He wasn't eccentric, he was more like Royal Tenenbaum. Imagine if The Royal Tenenbaums was just about Royal. It'd be a pretty sad, pretty dry movie, right? That's what Life Aquatic was to me. There was still plenty of little details about the movie that was very Wes Anderson, but Steve Zissou was really just a sad, sad man. It, like The Royal Tenenbaums, was also a dark movie... it just wasn't filled with as many eccentric characters. When I first saw the movie, I guess I just didn't know what to make of him. I wasn't sure if I liked the main character. How can I enjoy the movie if I didn't like the main character?

Well, in The Squid and the Whale, hardly anyone in the movie is likable. These are highly flawed characters, but they're real characters. And the willingness to show the ugly side of people is what attracted me to Noah Baumbach's style. When I saw TLA, I realized that's what they were trying to do with Steve Zissou.

Anyway, like I said, I really dug the movie. In the following few years, I was able to catch up on his earlier films (except for Highball) and I really enjoyed those films too. Those films showed a brighter side to him. He seemed much more focused on writing witty, disillusioned characters, but they still demonstrated his knack for writing believable, realistic characters.

So, there are two sides to Noah Baumbach. The younger, more disillusioned 20-something college grad and the somewhat older, maturer, yet more reflective Noah Baumbach. Margot at the Wedding kinda delved into that second psyche even further. It dealt with a kid going through the awkward pre-teen stage having to go on this trip with his mother as they visit his Aunt and soon-to-be Uncle. Baumbach also further explored the inner struggles of a family that has seemed to grown apart from each other. Again, the characters were ugly, unlikable, mean, spiteful. Because of this, critics were very mixed on the movie. I remember when the movie was about to come out and I saw how divided the critics were. But you know what? That kinda made me wanna see the movie even more. It showed me Baumbach wasn't trying to become a critical darling. The Squid and the Whale pretty much got glowing reviews all across the board and here is Baumbach, further delving into the uglier side of human relationships. That being said, I understood a lot of the criticisms directed toward the movie. It definitely has its fair share of flaws. It almost felt too personal, too spiteful. And I also felt that Jack Black's character was oddly out of place in the movie. It was as if Baumbach was afraid to make it a complete drama. I think it would've been more interesting if it was a flat-out drama and any elements of a comedy were taken out altogether. Because, really, it is supposed to be a drama. And it could've been a really effective drama if Baumbach went all the way with it.

Nevertheless, with that movie, it established Baumbach as one of the most interesting filmmakers working today. I wouldn't say he's my favorite just yet, but his films do fascinate me. It's amazing to me how layered his characters are. I feel like, by the end of a Baumbach movie, that I had really gotten to know the characters. What's most interesting is how his movies end, especially with his last two films, they both forced you to ask "Where do we go from here?" I like it when a movie poses that question and I really want to know the answer to it. It frustrates and excites me at the same time. I don't see the need for a movie to wrap everything up in a nice little bow. Take Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors when Allen's character and Martin Landau are standing next to each other at that party. It's the end of the movie and these characters both have just gotten out of their respective dramatic situations. The question for both of them was the same... "Where do we go from here?", "What happens now?" and it's asked in the same lingering way. Life goes on. The drama is over. There is a sense that these characters will live on even when the movie ends.

Right now Greenberg sits at a 100% on rottentomatoes with only seven reviews in. Obviously, that's going to go down at some point. But I feel genuinely happy for Baumbach. I want him to succeed, I want him to continue growing as a filmmaker. He may not be at the top of his game yet, but I cannot wait when he gets there. And he will.