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Untitled

By asuraf on December 26, 2008

Noah Baumbach’s films are either therapy sessions gone wrong or precise examinations of selfishness in intelligent upper middle class bohemia, either way, in their Rohmerian look at family troubles, they are fascinating to watch. Following the much admired “The Squid and the Whale”, Baumbach switches focus from a crumbling marriage to the rivalry between two estranged sisters (marvelously played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman), reunited when the former invites the latter, a famous, self-absorbed New York author, back to their childhood home for a wedding. What transpires is a mixture of bonding, psychological gamesmanship, and acidic putdowns, filmed and performed in theatrical long takes reminiscent of such master directors as Eric Rohmer (Baumbach’s noted inspiration), Mike Leigh, Ingmar Bergman, and to a lesser extent, Woody Allen during his Bergman-esque period. Baumbach isn’t quite proficient enough to join the ranks of such revered writer-directors, but his formula is solid, mature, and perfectly squirm inducing.