To Have and To Hold. 5 / 5
Directed by Noah Baumbach.
A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.
A deeply emotional opposite to the romantic comedy, director and writer Noah Baumbach shows the breakdown of a relationship and the consequences of that decision in the beautiful Marriage Story.
It begins like a fairy tale. One of the most attractive on-screen (ex?) couples describes what they love about each other in an opening so filled with warmth. From that moment on, the film shifts and quickly becomes personal and darkly funny in a harshly relatable way.
The script and direction are so strong, I was massively impressed by Baumbach especially after not loving some of his past work. It feels real and raw and the dialogue has an honesty to it only accentuated by the powerhouse performances of Driver and Johansson.
The cast are so vibrant, I personally would love to see Driver get nominated for his work in this, and you get pulled into the escalating situation that gets more hostile, tighter and tighter, louder and louder until it explodes.
You are a fly on the wall in their parting lives as they figure how life will change and who will get custody of their son, Danny from The Shining. You feel with them, you cringe with them, you feel nervous for them. Such an intense experience, one of my favourites of the festival and I cannot wait to watch it again.
Read our latest reviews at: letterboxd.com/TheJackAling
Comments