Mistress AmericaYoung ingenues just starting in college seek out role models to guide them through the bumpy parts, and thirty-somethings can find themselves in a place where they want to show their proteges the path to avoid the pitfalls they have learned to dodge; sometimes, these ambitions even work out for both parties. Getting to know someone different from yourself can also teach you more about who you are than you could have imagined. You may try to emulate their behavior--only to find it's not always appropriate--and form a bond. But the bonds that stick us together can leave us cracked if we bend in ways the other can't or won't.
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Mistress America is a story about a story; more specifically, it is about a young woman entering college in New York City, who feels alone and has a hard time making friends. Tracy (Lola Kirke) is not an unpleasant girl at all, but neither are the countless men and women who are alone; frankly, making friends is hard. Tracy struggles to get her footing in school, but finds she has a passion for writing, and befriends a young man in her boring lecture class named Tony (Matthew Shear). The two share an awkward friendship, both passionate about writing--both want to be accepted into the undergrad club of snooty scribblers--but their could-be relationship is put on ice when Tony starts dating the jealous Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), who presumes adultery at every conversation between Tony and Tracy. Tracy cannot survive on bread and water alone in the friendship game, so she calls her older, soon-to-be sister-in-law, and they agree to meet in Times Square, where Brooke (Greta Gerwig) descends from the bleachers with a simultaneous sense of grandeur and absurdity. Brooke takes Tracy out on a fun-filled night on the town, making her feel included and attended to. Brooke finds in Tracy an audience, someone who can receive the boundless advice and bevy of live experience she throws at her. What Tracy finds in Brooke is not only a friend, but a condensed personification of her idea of New York City, and their conversations--throughout which numerous ideas and clever turns of phrase are spoken--inspire Tracy to jot down notes, leading her to write another short story submission for invitation into the writing club at school. Like other collaborations between director Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig--both co-wrote Mistress America--the story is powered by the tight dialogue and egotism of the characters, clashing like flint and steel, setting off sparks. Tracy's gifted writing is fostered by Brooke's dynamic personality, but rather than this be a story about two generally perfect women, their own errs in judgment prove to be the real sources of their suffering.
Frankly, Tracy is an altogether decent young girl, who refrains from condescending or criticizing Brooke, even when Brooke is so very wrong about her actions, such as when Brooke is confronted in the bar by a woman who was bullied in school by her, and Brooke's callous response is altogether shocking and even cruel. And maybe it is some of Brooke rubbing off on Tracy, but when the duo--along with Tony and Nicolette--take a road trip to Connecticut to beg money from Brooke's self-proclaimed nemesis' husband--whom Brooke used to date...you can see where this insanity is going--Tracy brings her newest creation with her, a short story featuring a character modeled after Brooke. It is not meant to be a criticism of Brooke, but it is dynamite, something which if misunderstood could blow up in her face. It's not easy for a writer to portray a person they know as an avatar for a character in their fiction without the impulse to portray them in an artificially flattering way. Tracy's writing--which doubles as the narration for the film--tells the story of a woman who is driven by her impulses, who is inspiring, but is also ultimately insipid and self-absorbed; Tracy's interactions with Brooke makes up the content of the story. At best, Brooke is a generous, vibrant, funny, and pretty woman; at worst, she is an arrogant, petty, narcissistic gold digger. The truth is that she's both, but few people are capable of handling their criticisms, much less in printed form. But for all of Brooke's shortcomings, she is a ray of light to be around, a magnetic force for Tracy, and--in truth--source material for her she is too enthralled by to ignore. Brooke has genuine fears about herself; at thirty, she feels she has not done anything with her life. She wears the clothes and adopts the persona of a successful, urbane woman, but is barely treading water, floundering with not just her aspirations to open a restaurant built on cliches, but shield herself from the realization that she cannot seem to follow through with any of her dreams, a point observed by her nemesis, Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind). But this is really Tracy's story and she emerges from her own shell as a result of Brooke; maybe not by "becoming" like Brooke, but by learning what people are like, and how she can stand up for her own aspirations, and more importantly, why that matters.
Recommended for: Fans of a clever and biting, dialogue-driven comedy; and while the whole "urbanites in NYC" has been done before, the great personalities of the characters and actors makes this a more heartfelt--less sardonic--approach.
Frankly, Tracy is an altogether decent young girl, who refrains from condescending or criticizing Brooke, even when Brooke is so very wrong about her actions, such as when Brooke is confronted in the bar by a woman who was bullied in school by her, and Brooke's callous response is altogether shocking and even cruel. And maybe it is some of Brooke rubbing off on Tracy, but when the duo--along with Tony and Nicolette--take a road trip to Connecticut to beg money from Brooke's self-proclaimed nemesis' husband--whom Brooke used to date...you can see where this insanity is going--Tracy brings her newest creation with her, a short story featuring a character modeled after Brooke. It is not meant to be a criticism of Brooke, but it is dynamite, something which if misunderstood could blow up in her face. It's not easy for a writer to portray a person they know as an avatar for a character in their fiction without the impulse to portray them in an artificially flattering way. Tracy's writing--which doubles as the narration for the film--tells the story of a woman who is driven by her impulses, who is inspiring, but is also ultimately insipid and self-absorbed; Tracy's interactions with Brooke makes up the content of the story. At best, Brooke is a generous, vibrant, funny, and pretty woman; at worst, she is an arrogant, petty, narcissistic gold digger. The truth is that she's both, but few people are capable of handling their criticisms, much less in printed form. But for all of Brooke's shortcomings, she is a ray of light to be around, a magnetic force for Tracy, and--in truth--source material for her she is too enthralled by to ignore. Brooke has genuine fears about herself; at thirty, she feels she has not done anything with her life. She wears the clothes and adopts the persona of a successful, urbane woman, but is barely treading water, floundering with not just her aspirations to open a restaurant built on cliches, but shield herself from the realization that she cannot seem to follow through with any of her dreams, a point observed by her nemesis, Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind). But this is really Tracy's story and she emerges from her own shell as a result of Brooke; maybe not by "becoming" like Brooke, but by learning what people are like, and how she can stand up for her own aspirations, and more importantly, why that matters.
Recommended for: Fans of a clever and biting, dialogue-driven comedy; and while the whole "urbanites in NYC" has been done before, the great personalities of the characters and actors makes this a more heartfelt--less sardonic--approach.