Mistress America
- 2015
- Tous publics
- 1h 24min
La vie d'une jeune étudiante esseulée est chamboulée par sa future belle-soeur impétueuse.La vie d'une jeune étudiante esseulée est chamboulée par sa future belle-soeur impétueuse.La vie d'une jeune étudiante esseulée est chamboulée par sa future belle-soeur impétueuse.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 2 victoires et 14 nominations au total
- Hallway Girl
- (as Andrea Chen)
- Hallway Girl
- (as Shoba Narayanan)
Avis à la une
The underrated and most talented Gerwig also stars in the movie as Brooke, a free spirit who's leading a whirlwind of a life, with a myriad of part-time jobs but looking to close a deal on a new restaurant, in the Williamsburg section of NYC.
Lola Kirke co-stars here and gives a fine performance as Tracy, a first year college student at Barnard, aspiring to be a writer but having loads of problems fitting in on campus. Brooke and Tracy are slated to be step sisters when Brooke's father and Tracy's mother marry in the near future.
Thus, when Tracy, at the urging of her mother, calls Brooke and they meet for the first time in Manhattan, Tracy finds herself willingly caught up in the cyclone of Brooke's life. Tracy even finds herself using Brooke as inspiration for her short story that she submits to the prestigious Mobius Literary Society at her college.
All of this seems well and good, but for me the problem with the movie is in the dialogue, which often came across to me as mostly pretentious, whiny, and even mean-spirited at times. Thus, the characters that emerged were so shallow and self-absorbed that I mostly lost interest in what would happen to any of them. When that happens to me as I view a film, I start checking the time wondering when it will be finally over.
Overall, Gerwig and Kirke are solid here, with many actors in supporting roles adding much as well. However, as mentioned the occasional clever or humorous line was overshadowed by dialogue that came across to me as affected and pretentious, leading to surfacy and shallow characters.
"Mistress America" is a simple film that is dependent on dialogue and interesting characters. The quick pace and rapid fire dialogues remind me of Woody Allen films, and I think in here the dialogues are really good as they give the main characters distinct personalities. Brooke is very creative, bubbly, quirky but likable. Even the supporting characters are special, such as the jealous girlfriend and the rich woman who steals Brooke's ideas. There is so much going on in the film, even in the first ten minutes I thought I have already watched for much longer because so much has happened. I really enjoyed this charming film.
The writing and delivery of dialogue in the climax of the film is particularly amazing, with fast, witty exchanges filled with little jokes. Yet, the movie vacillates from hilarity to melancholy without warning the viewer, which makes the film all the more special.
The depiction of and commentary on NYC, youth, etc. is all spot on, making this movie worth the watch.
Finally, the soundtrack is excellent too, giving the movie a very alt/indie feel.
Many negative reviewers sadly fail to appreciate the sophisticated writing and humour, along with the truly wonderful job that the lead actors have done in this unpretentious flick.
Like all buddy movies, Tracy's and Brooke's relationship has ups and downs, complicated by the literary understory. Then the whirlwind pace goes surreal as the New Yorkers head to Greenwich, Connecticut in search of—something. We think it's one thing but it's not. I guess Greenwich, seat of the uber wealthy in the US financial arena, is actually a surreal place.
This is an intensely witty movie with a very chewy script handled ably by the very smart cast. Many call "Mistress America" a comedy but funny is clearly not this movie's main goal. To call it a "screwball comedy" is to not properly describe its intellect. The movie is saying something about envying the lives of others, which most of us do to one extent or another. It's a thoughtful movie, and it will be uncomfortable for some to watch if you, like Tracy, are not centered within your own mind and body. And after all, who is?
We saw this movie thanks to the San Jose Camera Cinema Club.
But the film is also not at all bad, in fact this may very well be the case of myself just not understanding what was intended with the script. It was just hard to buy into the premise when nothing is really set up at all. The film just pretty much jumps into the plot of Tracy and Brooke spending time together as they get to know each other before officially becoming step-sisters. Their relationship was interesting, but I didn't find it to be profound or anything like that. The latter half of the film takes place mainly in one area with close to 10 characters and it seemed to be way too dramatic and theatrical for a low budget story on a few relatively regular human beings.
It's unfortunate because the soundtrack and score are really quite good and seemed to fit for what they were going for at first, but the film just wasn't appealing enough for the score to really shine like it should have. I just feel like for a movie that is titled Mistress America, it should have been a more memorable outing. Sadly that's two Baumbach films this year that have been a bit of a letdown.
+Score/soundtrack
+Likable leads
-Why do I care about this story?
-Not much set up or payoff, to anything
5.5/10
Le saviez-vous
- GaffesWhen Brooke's former high school classmate Anna Wheeler approaches Brooke and Tracy in the bar, Anna mentions that she and her husband have recently seen the play Other Desert Cities, which began previews at the Booth Theatre on October 12, 2011 and closed on June 17, 2012. If the film occurs during Tracy's first semester of college and culminates with Thanksgiving dinner with Brooke at Veselka, then the film would occur in fall 2011. However, when the would-be stepsisters walk through Times Square, a marquee for the revival of Annie is visible. The most recent Broadway revival ran at the Palace Theatre from October 3, 2012 (first preview) to January 5, 2014.
- Citations
[Last lines]
Tracy: [narrating] Meadow had made rich fat women less fat, and rich stupid kids less stupid, and lame rich men less lame. And she wanted so badly to be on the other side... to be fat and stupid and lame and rich. But what she couldn't see most of all, more than she couldn't see that she was never going to get the restaurant, was that those people were *nothing* compared to her. They were matches to her bonfire. She was the last cowboy, all romance and failure. The world was changing, and her kind didn't have anywhere to go. Being a beacon of hope for lesser people... is a lonely business.
- Bandes originalesSouvenir
Written by Martin Cooper and Paul Humphreys
Performed by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd.
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Meilleurs choix
- How long is Mistress America?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Site officiel
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Phụ Nữ Kiểu Mỹ
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 2 500 431 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 93 206 $US
- 16 août 2015
- Montant brut mondial
- 3 341 063 $US
- Durée1 heure 24 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.85 : 1