Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)

[Matt]

I'm still processing the film after seeing it yesterday. I was surprised by how complex and "full of stuff" it is. I'll need to see it again or read the screenplay to fully appreciate it, I think.

[Magic Hate Ball]

Saw this last night. It passed really quickly, and I'll probably see it again before it leaves the theater. I loved how it was shot. The shoulder camera technique was done well without irritating the audience. Plus, what with all the natural lighting, it was just plain gorgeous. Some of the shots out on the lawn I wouldn't mind having framed.

If this is playing near you, and you haven't seen it, you really should go see it.

[bkimball]

I couldn't stand this movie. I loved The Squid And The Whale, but I just found this grating on the nerves. I understand that Margot is supposedly going through some mid-life crisis, but I really don't need to hear her belittle someone every single minute of the movie.

Plus, what the hell was up with the end? She goes to send her son on a bus, and he says, "I masturbated...", and she says, "Now's not the time to talk about it."

I haven't been this angry with a film in a while.

[margot]

I couldn't stand this movie. I loved The Squid And The Whale, but I just found this grating on the nerves. I understand that Margot is supposedly going through some mid-life crisis, but I really don't need to hear her belittle someone every single minute of the movie.

Plus, what the hell was up with the end? She goes to send her son on a bus, and he says, "I masturbated...", and she says, "Now's not the time to talk about it."

I haven't been this angry with a film in a while.

She tells him that he doesn't have to tell her stuff like that.

[hot_locket]

I haven't heard anything about this film around my town. Is it expanding its release anytime soon?

[Matt]

I haven't heard anything about this film around my town. Is it expanding its release anytime soon?

Probably not, unless it receives a Academy Award nomination. It opened mid-November, so I think it's at the end of its release schedule. DVD release date is supposedly Feb. 19.

[Andre Jurieu]

Here's a little interview with Noah Baumbach.

[domino harvey]

Finally got to see this this past weekend and I was absolutely floored. I was not expecting this film to be as good as it is. Not only Baumbach's best work by far, but the best American film I've seen in years. I am still somewhat flabbergasted at how full and rich Margot At the Wedding is.

[Jeff]

Finally got to see this this past weekend and I was absolutely floored. I was not expecting this film to be as good as it is. Not only Baumbach's best work by far, but the best American film I've seen in years. I am still somewhat flabbergasted at how full and rich Margot At the Wedding is.

I loved it too, Domino, though perhaps not quite as much as you. I'm utterly perplexed at the generally chilly reception it received from critics.

[margot]

Yeah I loved this too. It's by far one of the best movies I've seen all year and in a very long time actually. After No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood this is definitely the best movie of the year.

What'd like 3 people see this? What a shame.

[souvenir]

I'll echo the chorus and also say that I think Nicole Kidman gave the best female performance I saw in a 2007 film. The complete lack of attention she got shows just how many sheep there are in the awards game. It's like a lint ball contest with each critics group and guild digging some fuzz out of their navel to add to the same couple of piles.

[Shrew]

I'm terribly angry at myself because this was actually playing in Cleveland, but I was too busy to go see it. And now it's gone.

[manicsounds]

how quick, Feb 19th on DVD

[Matt]

how quick, Feb 19th on DVD

Yeah, that's a 3-month window. They've got to take advantage of any awards buzz the film gets now. It's a shame this film got the shaft, but now I can treat it like my own secret little treasure, like Birth and In My Skin. I just hope it's critical and commercial non-showing doesn't affect Baumbach's ability to get his next film made, whatever that will be.

Oh god, I just noticed the Peter Travers quote on the DVD cover. People renting the film on the basis of that quote and all the laughing, smiling, and hugging on the back cover are in for a quite a shock.

[jbeall]

Oh god, I just noticed the Peter Travers quote on the DVD cover. People renting the film on the basis of that quote and all the laughing, smiling, and hugging on the back cover are in for a quite a shock.

Well, Travers does say the laughs are sharp enough to draw blood!

[domino harvey]

I'm so excited to see it's coming out so soon because I've been dying to see it again ever since I walked out of the theater.

[tavernier]

I hope that's not an exact Travers quote; otherwise, we can add "illiteracy" to the list of his faults as a critic.

[margot]

I hope that's not an exact Travers quote; otherwise, we can add "illiteracy" to the list of his faults as a critic.

I never understood why Peter Travers is a "top" critic. I mean he writes for Rolling Stone for fucks sake, and he seems to love every movie.

[Jeff]

I never understood why Peter Travers is a "top" critic. I mean he writes for Rolling Stone for fucks sake, and he seems to love every movie.

It depends on what you mean by "top" critic. If you mean respected within the critical community, he's not. If you mean that his quotes appear frequently in advertising and he's relatively well known by general public, you've answered your own question:

he writes for Rolling Stone...he seems to love every movie

[domino harvey]

I've never fully recovered from his Me Myself and Irene review that was basically Travers pulling down his pants and fucking the movie for five pages.

[hot_locket]

So this movie finally came, and then I did too, while watching it!

Seriously, though, great stuff.

[Antoine Doinel]

I hope that's not an exact Travers quote; otherwise, we can add "illiteracy" to the list of his faults as a critic.

I never understood why Peter Travers is a "top" critic. I mean he writes for Rolling Stone for fucks sake, and he seems to love every movie.

He's as much a "top critic" as Peter Hammond of Maxim who also suffers from the same cinematic affliction as Peter Travers.

[dadaistnun]

I really loved this film; it resonated with me in ways I didn't expect. Margot's line, "I've got a fucking bug in my ear!" sort of encapsulated the whole film for me.

For all the talk of how "ugly" the film supposedly looks, I think Savides' work here is fantastic, capturing both the diffuse light of an overcast oceanside sky as well making great use of nighttime shadows (that scene outside the vet's office between Kidman & Turturro where you can barely make out her face, if at all).

A friend who has been running an art house theater for the last 20+ years (and who loved the movie) said she had more walkouts on Margot than any other movie in recent memory. The typical, predictable customer comment was "I didn't like any of the characters," to which my friend wanted to say, "So what? Suck it up, chump!"

[domino harvey]

I think this movie is going to find a huge audience on DVD. I never for a second thought the characters were unlikable-- they're all too complex to be reduced to a simple cartoonish villain or hero. The characters are all brutal in one way or another towards each other and themselves to a spectacular degree. I can't stop thinking about Margot's response to her son after

Spoiler

Her sister messes herself after the car accident: "It will happen to you some day."

I was impressed and more than a little in awe at how "real" and full the characters were, and how the film stayed honest to these people. Also, the camera work and editing is simply brilliant and only adds to the achievement here.

[Andre Jurieu]

I think this movie is going to find a huge audience on DVD.

Uh ... in a perfect world sure, but not by the description you just gave us:

I never for a second thought the characters were unlikable-- they're all too complex to be reduced to a simple cartoonish villain or hero. The characters are all brutal in one way or another towards each other and themselves to a spectacular degree... I was impressed and more than a little in awe at how "real" and full the characters were, and how the film stayed honest to these people.

I mean we're still talking about the North American video-rental market here, right? Based on the above description, it doesn't sound plausible that people are going to eat this up on DVD.