Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)
- Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
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Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)
My Mac and the AOL video player don't get along, but here's the trailer.
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- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- pianocrash
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- jesus the mexican boi
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- Antoine Doinel
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- justeleblanc
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- Location: Connecticut
- Cold Bishop
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- Cold Bishop
- Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
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This new one is also super obvious, what with the character of Pauline living on a beach. Trailer is up in HD and I noticed Ciaran Hinds in the credits, who was fantastic in HBO's Rome, and Munich.Cold Bishop wrote:That is why I do hope...SncDthMnky wrote:How could anyone miss out on that with the massive poster hanging in the father's house?Cold Bishop wrote:I do hope that The Squid and the Whale/The Mother and the Whore wasn't lost on you?
- justeleblanc
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
- Location: Connecticut
I thought I made that observation about Pauline, maybe not. Conrad and Butler Take a Vacation was another title of his alluding to a New Wave film.SncDthMnky wrote:This new one is also super obvious, what with the character of Pauline living on a beach. Trailer is up in HD and I noticed Ciaran Hinds in the credits, who was fantastic in HBO's Rome, and Munich.
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- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:43 am
you did, I just thought it was similar in terms of the title; ______ at the ________. The fact that her name was pauline and that she lived at a beach flew right by me in the tiny AOL trailer. My attention was probably elsewhere.justeleblanc wrote:I thought I made that observation about Pauline, maybe not. Conrad and Butler Take a Vacation was another title of his alluding to a New Wave film.SncDthMnky wrote:This new one is also super obvious, what with the character of Pauline living on a beach. Trailer is up in HD and I noticed Ciaran Hinds in the credits, who was fantastic in HBO's Rome, and Munich.
- justeleblanc
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
- Location: Connecticut
My original thought was Zazie.SncDthMnky wrote:you did, I just thought it was similar in terms of the title; ______ at the ________. The fact that her name was pauline and that she lived at a beach flew right by me in the tiny AOL trailer. My attention was probably elsewhere.justeleblanc wrote:I thought I made that observation about Pauline, maybe not. Conrad and Butler Take a Vacation was another title of his alluding to a New Wave film.SncDthMnky wrote:This new one is also super obvious, what with the character of Pauline living on a beach. Trailer is up in HD and I noticed Ciaran Hinds in the credits, who was fantastic in HBO's Rome, and Munich.
- miless
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- Magic Hate Ball
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- Dylan
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm
I think Black is well cast in this part, with his very distinctive look and behavior informing a great deal of his performance here. Somebody like Brody strikes me as a far more traditional romantic lead, and would feel extremely different than what Black does here.Magic Hate Ball wrote:I read the script a little while ago, and liked it a lot. I really, really didn't imagine Jack Black in that role (maybe Adrien Brody or someone like that), but maybe because I hate Jack Black. Defenitely looking forward to seeing it play out onscreen.
Last edited by Dylan on Sat Nov 16, 2019 11:04 am, edited 2 times in total.
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- Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 11:36 pm
This film is more of the same from a promising director, but I would argue that he needs to break free of the clutches of the New York literary experience before all of his movies become identical and unimpressive.
The opening of this film on the train is nicely done and at times seems to demonstrate what Alfred Hitchcock believed; that is that the train is protocinematic in that it allows all people to experience the joyous sensation of watching images pass by the eyes at a rapid rate, while also demonstrating the linerating potential of the eyes to re-shape one's own reality. Thus in the film, we see Claude looking out the window as he and his mother Margot (Nicole Kidman looking as ugly and frazzled as she has ever looked) travel by train from New York to attend her sister's wedding. The trip is really a ruse for her sexual explorations (in one scene Margot is shown late at night alone masterbating after she has had a fight with her husband) outside of her marriage. Yet while with her sister Pauline, brillantly played by Jennfier Jason-Leigh, Margot gains some insight into her talented but deeply disturbed and dark soul.
Jack Black is excellent in this film as a man who wants to be a great artist but who possesses no real talent. His best scene is after a giant tree has fallen on the tent, under which he and Pauline were to be married.
Overall I would have to say that this is movie is funny, sad, moving and quite interesting but it is nowhere the caliber of The Squid and the Whale. It is a small, intimate movie.
The opening of this film on the train is nicely done and at times seems to demonstrate what Alfred Hitchcock believed; that is that the train is protocinematic in that it allows all people to experience the joyous sensation of watching images pass by the eyes at a rapid rate, while also demonstrating the linerating potential of the eyes to re-shape one's own reality. Thus in the film, we see Claude looking out the window as he and his mother Margot (Nicole Kidman looking as ugly and frazzled as she has ever looked) travel by train from New York to attend her sister's wedding. The trip is really a ruse for her sexual explorations (in one scene Margot is shown late at night alone masterbating after she has had a fight with her husband) outside of her marriage. Yet while with her sister Pauline, brillantly played by Jennfier Jason-Leigh, Margot gains some insight into her talented but deeply disturbed and dark soul.
Jack Black is excellent in this film as a man who wants to be a great artist but who possesses no real talent. His best scene is after a giant tree has fallen on the tent, under which he and Pauline were to be married.
Overall I would have to say that this is movie is funny, sad, moving and quite interesting but it is nowhere the caliber of The Squid and the Whale. It is a small, intimate movie.
- franco
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:32 pm
- Location: Vancouver
I love this movie, but something really bothers me at the end when
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Nicole Kidman drops her purse and runs after the bus. Why would any woman leave her purse by the roadside? I mean, it's got her wallet in it. I think there's quite an unhealthy dose of histronics there that betrays the otherwise natural tone and performances.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Margot being Margot,franco wrote:I love this movie, but something really bothers me at the end whenSpoilerShowNicole Kidman drops her purse and runs after the bus. Why would any woman leave her purse by the roadside? I mean, it's got her wallet in it. I think there's quite an unhealthy dose of histronics there that betrays the otherwise natural tone and performances.
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it surely has no cash in it and her driver's license we already know is expired. The only thing of any worth in her purse is probably a joint credit card (with her husband) or two. Considering that the only thing that really means anything to her (including her family, her marriage, and money) is speeding away on a bus, her decision to leave everything else behind (dreadfully symbolic though it may be) makes sense to me.
- franco
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:32 pm
- Location: Vancouver
That is indeed a nasty metaphor. I sort of refused to read it that way before I could find logic in Margot's rash decision. It hurt my heart and challenged my emotional integrity, seriously. I could hardly stumble out of the theatre. Thanks so much for the astute observation Matt... My appreciation of the film has thus solidified.
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- Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:04 pm
Glad to see that people are appreciating this small, difficult but insightful film. It takes balls to present a group of characters that at times are so willfully unlikeable, but thankfully Baumbach's a humanist at heart. Brave and moving performances from all involved.
Overall, I preferred SQUID AND THE WHALE, perhaps because its depiction of childhood and divorce was more immediately accessible and emotional for me. Unfortunately, both films do share the tendency to sometimes be overly symbolic and literal. Margot is one such example; Once Baumbach works these slightly forced, student-y metaphors out of his writing, he'll get even better.
Overall, I preferred SQUID AND THE WHALE, perhaps because its depiction of childhood and divorce was more immediately accessible and emotional for me. Unfortunately, both films do share the tendency to sometimes be overly symbolic and literal. Margot
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dropping her purse, as mentioned above,
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the tree crashing down and crushing the wedding tent is another.