Greenberg

The message in the movie “Greenburg” is about embracing the life you never planned for. I remember that because they said it twice. And that’s something that can be hard to do, but if you can do it you will be much happier with the short time we have in this world. There’s something very Buddhist about that. We all have plans and goals and usually the universe laughs in our faces, because life rarely turns out as you imagine it will. But if you can find the bliss that exists in the seemingly mundane then you will have truly lived. I’m not quite sure how I was able to extrapolate all of that from this film but surely the sign of a good movie is its ability to make us think.

And “Greenburg” is a good movie. It surprises me in many ways. It somehow has a unique viewpoint without being pretentious. It is constantly grounded in the reality that we all live in. The characters are incredibly complex, and therefore ring true. There are many parts that are funny just out of sheer awkwardness. And that’s essentially what this film is about, an awkward guy who can somehow feel utterly alone in a house full of people. It’s also about how hard it can be to find people you connect with, and when you do how hard it can be to keep them. This film on the surface seems like not a whole lot of anything. It’s a good movie that shines because it makes everything else look like shit. Noah Baumbach is a film maker with a lot of sheer talent and artistry of storytelling. The acting in the film is perfect. I often think that comedians make better actors because to do comedy you have to be extremely committed and understand subtlety, and it turns out Ben Stiller is a good actor. The best performance is by Greta Gerwig. I don’t know who she is or where she came from but she’s incredible. I sincerely believe that had anyone else been cast in her role the film would have greatly suffered.

I do slightly resent the impressions the main character seems to have about my generation. We are not all so vacuous, some of us are already living a life we did not want or plan for. I did like the ending of the film, which offers no real resolution to things. But it was interesting to spend a couple hours watching these few moments in the lives of two characters. This is a film I would be interested in seeing again. I think this Baumbach fella has things to say and I'm interested in what they might be.