While We’re Young ****
Noah Baumbach makes poignant dramas about characters at a turning point in their lives, and While We’re Young is no exception. It’s about the painful reality of trying to stay youthful and go against societal grain of what you should be doing at fortysomething – a poignant project for Baumbach, himself 45, as well as the rest of us of the same age.
Ben Stiller – who starred in Baumbach’s 2009 film Greenberg – returns to play another middle-aged man in mid-life crisis here as 44-year-old ‘failed’ documentary film-maker Josh (a character not far removed from Woody Allen’s role in Crimes and Misdemeanors). He is married to wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts), the daughter and producer of a celebrated documentary film-maker, Leslie Breitbart (played by Charles Grodin). As all their friends are now parents to young kids – a sore point for Cornelia who has gone through painful IVF with no success, the pair decide that their ‘freedom’ of choice to do as they wish is a far better predicament to be in.
After teaching a lacklustre continuing education class, Josh meets young hipster, married twentysomethings, wannabe film-maker Jamie (Adam Driver) and his wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried) who makes strange-flavoured icecream. They have a passion for life, art and simple living, something Josh and Cornelia tap into very quickly. Soon the older pair is trying out all kinds of new activities with their new younger buddies, while Jamie uses Josh’s knowledge – and contacts – to make a documentary. But what are all their true intentions in the end?
While We’re Young has a wonderful mixture of stark reality that hits home and slapstick humour in measurable portions. There are moments that make you laugh – like the trippy shamanic ceremony attended by all – and then other times of sobering reality that brings you down to earth. What Baumbach achieves is a film that continually questions what is the right way to be in this situation without having societal norms burdening down – the danger point is always trying to avoid them to find self fulfilment. He also creates a little twist at the end that has you questioning all kinds of ethics and morals of all the characters – again, who’s right?
Stiller, Watts, Driver and Seyfried play their parts with easy, confident flare, aware of the complexities of their characters’ personalities. This is a film very much about what the males want, so the females do tend to tag along, but they reference this in the film, and ironically, are the power behind their men. It’s another interesting angle to contemplate.
While We’re Young is definitely very Allen-esque for those not familiar with Bauchbach’s other work like Frances Ha, Margot at the Wedding and Noah and the Whale, but it does speak fluently to those with similar concerns as its characters, making it a surprisingly holistic watch, even in the most outrageous situations.
4/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
