I was recently asked about my favorite film and with out even thinking I said 'Kicking & Screaming'. What's that you don't know it? well it was the first film by writer director Noah Baumbach who you will all soon be singing the praises of, because he has written the script of Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenebaums) new film, The Life Aquatic staring Bill Murray, and he is in pre-production as the director of The Squid and the Whale, another film he's written that will also star Bill Murray.
Kicking and Screaming is about a group of young men who have just graduated from college and are drifting off to face their lives. It's about moving on, loosing friends, finding new friends making life choices. There is the mourning of lost relationships, the attempts to relive the comfortable past, and lots and lots of talking. I understand all of those things. I know what it's like to be a part of a imploding group of friends who have all played a part in each others lives, and to watch that group fade away. Talking about subjects that are silly as if they were serious, and the realization that the life you have been connected to for the last however long is over and it's time to move on.
There is sadness in the film, and there is joy, and in the end there is action (in the 'I made a choice and tried to follow it though' type, not a shootout or fist-fight). All of this is bordered by humor and insight into minds and lives of the educated but unprepared young men of the world. Yes it's a film that appeals to me because of where I came from, and what I have lived through, and it's not necessarily going to appeal to others, but that's ok because not all films have to be for all people.
Notes:
1: Baumbach's other films 'Mr. Jealousy' and 'High Ball' are both of the same talky quirky films. High Ball was made on the quick while Mr. Jealousy was being filmed and has very limited production values, but I still like it.
2: The Films of Whit Stilman are similar to Baumbach's and I will of course be writing about them in the near future.
3: Kicking and Screaming is not a slick Hollywood film so if you watch it don't expect that kind of experience.
Kicking and Screaming is about a group of young men who have just graduated from college and are drifting off to face their lives. It's about moving on, loosing friends, finding new friends making life choices. There is the mourning of lost relationships, the attempts to relive the comfortable past, and lots and lots of talking. I understand all of those things. I know what it's like to be a part of a imploding group of friends who have all played a part in each others lives, and to watch that group fade away. Talking about subjects that are silly as if they were serious, and the realization that the life you have been connected to for the last however long is over and it's time to move on.
There is sadness in the film, and there is joy, and in the end there is action (in the 'I made a choice and tried to follow it though' type, not a shootout or fist-fight). All of this is bordered by humor and insight into minds and lives of the educated but unprepared young men of the world. Yes it's a film that appeals to me because of where I came from, and what I have lived through, and it's not necessarily going to appeal to others, but that's ok because not all films have to be for all people.
Notes:
1: Baumbach's other films 'Mr. Jealousy' and 'High Ball' are both of the same talky quirky films. High Ball was made on the quick while Mr. Jealousy was being filmed and has very limited production values, but I still like it.
2: The Films of Whit Stilman are similar to Baumbach's and I will of course be writing about them in the near future.
3: Kicking and Screaming is not a slick Hollywood film so if you watch it don't expect that kind of experience.