I Just Want To Write About Greta Gerwig
This is the most important thing I've ever written.
There’s a Letterboxd review of 20th Century Women that I think about a lot (🚩🚩🚩). It reads as follows: Greta didn't write this so I wasn't sure if I was going to get the full Gerwig experience but as soon as she said she was going to be late on rent I knew I was in the clear.
The idea of a Greta Gerwig character is that of a relatable mess. She’s the friend you know—if you can’t think of this friend, it’s probably you— constantly running late, leaving her shit everywhere and getting drunk and then walking you through every bad date she’s ever been on. She’s also the most outgoing person you know, a constant surprise and someone who’s figured out life in a way that almost seems illegal.
She’s both a warning sign and something to strive towards. I sometimes get sick of actors playing the same character over and over again. I’ll never feel that way about Gerwig. There’s always something new. She starts at the archetype and then builds from there.
I was recently at the North American Premiere of Noah Baumbach’s White Noise (humblebrag certainly intended), which was a very good but not great adaptation of Don DeLillo’s masterwork of a novel. It features Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig trying to keep their family (and wits) together during an “Airborne Toxic Event.”
Gerwig’s no longer a 20-something running through the streets of New York a la Frances Ha or Mistress American; she’s now a mother. Still a ball of energy but with a bit more subtlety, Gerwig’s Babette is the next iteration of her oeuvre. A dependable but forgetful character constantly looking at the bigger picture, it’s admirable that even in an adaptation of a novel, the Gerwig ideal is still there in all its glory.
It’s impossible for me to write about Greta Gerwig without stopping for a second or two to discuss Frances Ha, my favorite movie she’s involved in and one of my favorite movies of all time.
A black-and-white vignette-laden masterpiece, it would be easy to think of this film as artsy or gauche, but Gerwig’s performance turns it into a rollicking comedy full of life that is relatable to anyone trying to figure out their post-college life but especially those futzing about in New York.
It’s quintessential Gerwig and I’ll probably watch it once a year for the rest of my life.
So far, we’ve talked about Gerwig the actor but Gerwig the director is giving the former a run for her money.
With Barbie on the way, I can’t think of anyone that hasn’t missed in quite the same way Gerwig has behind the camera. Lady Bird is not-so-quietly an adaptation of her own life growing up in Sacramento in the early aughts. It uses a Dave Matthews Band song as its north star. Of course, I love it.
Little Women, on the other hand, is a book that did very little for me (I know it’s not really for me; I’m just saying what I felt when reading), and yet, the movie was flawless. I’m not sure how Gerwig did it, but her emphasis on the sisters talking over each other and squabbling and being real siblings gave Little Women the energy that very few movies have. Centering the story on Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh certainly doesn’t hurt.
All I’m saying is that Gerwig is batting 1,000 at this point, and I’ll be seeing whatever she directs on opening night for the rest of time.
In a time where a lot of movies feel cookie-cutter and boilerplate, you can never tell what Gerwig’s going to—acting or directing—as she constantly has a spark that gives everything she does an extra bit of panache.
I don’t really have a thesis or grand takeaway or anything here. Just that Greta Gerwig fucking rules and that I hope she never pays her rent on time.
I guess this section is a bit of a calendar update, as well as a random collection of words that kind of go together.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be seeing quite a few of the *bigger* movies of the year from Tár to The Banshees of Inisherin to The Whale to Armageddon Time to Women Talking to Triangle of Sadness. It’s all happening.
We have some pods on the way, as well as early awards predictions and wrap-ups for the year. It’s nearly 2023. I don’t know how that’s possible either.
This is a good time for movies, and I’m excited. That’s all I have to say about that.
Also, check out Smile if you’re up for it. It’s legitimately a fun and unnerving horror movie that had me ducking down in my seat.