Netflix Tuesday: 'Frances Ha'

To put it quite simply, Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha is a delight. Entirely slight, sure, but like his follow-up collaboration with his writing partner and lead star Greta Gerwig, this past weekend’s Mistress America (my review here), it’s unabashedly sincere, compassionately made and carefully constructed. It’s both classically elegant and highly modern, as wonderfully charming as a sunny day walking through the city and just as breezy in its approach. Though it cannot be called their first partnership, as the actress did star in his 2010 feature Greenberg, it's the first time the young talent set the filmmaker straight, and hopefully it's just the beginning of a wonderful working relationship the two share.

Gerwig brings the best out the best in Baumbach. So often his films get too caught up in bringing out the most detestable character he can produce. Margot at the Wedding almost prided itself in being as masochistic as it could be. Only in their first film together did Gerwig become a very needed and welcome ray of sunshine in his work and she shines all the more exuberantly here. She’s an entirely uninhibited persona, sweeping you with her natural aurora almost instantaneously and also despite some of her stubbornly controllable socially-destructive habits. As per usual, she may not be divorcing herself completely from her real-life persona but, since she remains so effortlessly endearing in the role she helped cater, you could completely careless if that’s the case.

In some way or another, you are supposed to worry about the state of our lead's well-being, though this never becomes the case and this may be the film's biggest flaw or its greatest triumph. The 27-year-old titular character (though her full name is Frances Halladay) coasts by aimlessly with her employment and living condition parables throughout. There's a comfortable ease always celebrated in her efforts to survive as a professional dancer in the Big Apple. Since you're so caught up in Frances Ha's love of life and its swell possibilities, you don't to even consider making a fuss about this folly in its amour, and that helps makes everything feel so warm and sweet. It’s never quite saccharine either, which makes it someone all the more pleasurable. Its good-natured personality never fails to come alive and, at 86 minutes, it’s just short enough to squeak by on such low-cut ambitions.

Add into the mix some wonderful scenery not just in the heart of NYC but also in Sacramento, Paris and Poughkeepsie, B & W cinematography successfully mimicking Woody Allen’s Manhattan and also an completely genial set of supporting cast members, primarily Mickey Sumner as Frances’ college best friend Sophie Levee as well as Adam Driver and Michael Zegen as Frances’ temporary well-off artist roommates, Lev and Benji, respectively, and the entire shebang sparkles with youthful prosperity and a charming sense of nostalgic familiarity. Much like their second creative effort together, Frances Ha can laugh at its subjects while never delving too far away from reliability. The conversations are slightly exaggerated but, in the end, you can completely imagine these people as friendly hipster critters you’d meet in the big city. The distinction is never crossed and this carefree sensibility is never forsaken, even as its most overly comedic or highly dramatic. Baumbach's grounded sensibilities are used quite effectively here, and his desire to shoot this feature almost entirely in long takes gives it a natural flow and a cordial attachment to reality and real time.

Despite never fizzling out, there’s only so long such sweet sensitivity can sustain itself, and just before the 70-minute mark is when this easefully light comedy begins to get weight down. The tender emotions laid before it keep on stride, but Frances Ha never quite captures the same allure it did in its most delectable moments, like when Frances spirits and spinning her way down Chinatown to David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” It’s nevertheless still entirely quotable and highly enjoyable, though, and it’s hard not to get even a little swept up in its good-spirited vibes. It’s refreshingly self-aware about its characters that are anything but, positively assured and easily among the most accomplished works Baumbach’s created thus far — just like his latest film, which goes to show he can continue producing a lot of laughs and love if he keeps his muse, Gerwig, by his side.