Who payed the critics

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Okay, many reviews are full of just grumpy complaints on Frances Ha; but I agree with most. My favorite review though, is by "nico-hvi" on Sept 8, 2013. That review is brief, insightful and readable; it even shares one well chosen quote from the film that demonstrate this critic's statements. Helpful, cuz my take on Frances Ha was not this clear! On my gut level, I watched the film on cable TV, or some of it, for after about 12 minutes, I zipped ahead, about 8 minutes, but it felt like I'd landed again in the same scene (zipped @ 8 min intervals until the end). I've never seen characters continuously spend time together, but never seeming to get connected. Many (negative) reviews here do well to better point out the vacancy & lack of attentive interactions between any of the characters. Reading these reviews echoed my own feelings, but also put those feelings into words! You could say that many of the reviews here enlightened me about maturing and just connecting with people and life.... all the things that the film itself had failed to do. One quick reference: Jane Austen seemed to present in her novels this type of blindness in persons & culture, convincingly. Any of us might fail to see and own-up to who we are (even in part), and once you enter the cul-de-sac it is very hard to exit, and reconnect. Thanks to the many of you who wrote enlightening analysis of this film's problems.

This review contains spoilers.Frances Ha is a black and white movie in the drama genre and stars Greta Gerwig as Frances Ha. Frances Ha is an out of work dancer. This movie focuses on Frances relation with her best friend as it deteriorates from moving apart. Along Frances' journey she confronts her past and future as she discovers herself.Frances Ha is a well directed, well written, and well acted movie. At about 90 minutes of run time, this movies does not overstay its welcome. Scenes flow well and the audience can see the deterioration of Frances and Sophie's relation as the two drift apart. Viewers that are not interested in a slice of life story may find this movie dull. The director does an excellent job for the most part in conveying the feeling of each scene. It is only some scenes such as Frances' alumni party scene which is not as well directed.The writing and acting in this movie is top notch. The audience spends most of their time with Greta Gerwig as Frances and the performance is magnetic. Frances should be an unlikable protagonist. She is needy, impulsive, duplicitous, and unconfident. However, Greta Gerwig portrays the character so well that the audience can feel for the character's plight. Many people have been down on their luck; and comparing their own success to that of their friends. It is simply too easy to believe that others have it better than you do and it would damage your own image. As a viewer, Greta Gerwig is able to convince the audience to empathize with her character's plight. Even as the character does actions the audience does not agree with, the viewer can still understand why she did it. It is this attribute that endears the movie and its characters to the viewer.The basic plot of the movie is generic but the smaller details such as dialog are well done. The writer and director does a good job with creating believable and dialog that one can both enjoy and analyze.I would recommend Frances Ha. However, I recognize it is not a movie for everyone. It is a movie that requires the viewer to be in a certain mood and willing to watch a movie that does not have a payoff. This genre of movie is not a movie with an easy payout. To anyone wanting an alternative to the big budget Hollywood dramas, look no further than Frances Ha.

This is the most accurate depiction that I've seen of life in your twenties, trying to make it in a big city. Just failing miserably at life, jobs, apartments, share housing, money, friends, relationships, but finally getting there towards the end, even though it's not how you imagined. It is the antithesis of every romcom that perpetuates the illusion that everything is supposed to fall in your lap. It's funny that we tend to be preconditioned to think that way based on clichéd movies and then are bitterly disillusioned when faced with a much harsher reality. No, great apartments, jobs and relationships aren't easy to find or keep, friendships don't always work out the way you hoped and dreams aren't always realised the way you thought they would be. But then there's that triumphant moment, when all that is behind you, and you've finally found yourself and your place in the world. And I think that moment is beautifully encapsulated in the final scene when Frances is smiling to herself in her own apartment and gets to put her name on her very own mailbox. I can definitely relate and still remember the feeling of finding my first apartment in the city, and that glorious sense of independence and self sufficiency of finally knowing everything is going to be alright. This movie is so real, and is pretty much the most unpretentious and relatable "indie" flick I've ever seen. Loved this so much more than I expected and I would watch it again.

It was my birthday recently. Officially I'm in my late-20's; the point in one's life where career goals take precedence over impromptu road trips with friends. Where settling into a routine is a sign of maturity and love is no longer about romance and magic but about compatibility and "the future". Needless to say, I'm not where I should be (are any of us?). Life can sometimes feel like playing a game after it's already started and realizing most of the game- pieces have gone missing. Sometimes we just have to make due.Frances Ha is a kindhearted and bittersweet pat on the shoulder to those feeling the existential dread of growing up. When we first meet Frances (Gerwig) our free-spirited protagonist, she's hitting the New York City Subway with her best friend and roommate Sophie (Sumner). Sophie confirms Frances's fear that she'll be moving out and living with her fiancée Dan (Esper). That revelation, coupled with the dwindling hopes of making a coveted spot in her dance troop sends Frances into a tailspin. The film then gently drifts with Frances as she struggles to make the adjustments in her life she needs, while still shooting for the dreams that brought her this far.Frances Ha is not a cautionary tale about the folly of dreams, nor is it an obnoxiously twee endorsement of their tenacity. Instead the camera follows our beleaguered hero with kind eyes, hoping to gain insight through granular subjectivity. By all respects Frances is a hot mess, but she exhibits an intelligence and effervescence that overwhelms the audience's inclination to call her and the people around her self-absorbed. We don't know what will become of Frances and her dreams but we as the audience are invited into every detail of her sun-kissed world. Even when she takes a fruitless trip to Paris; a dalliance few millennials can afford, we still sympathize with her and want her to succeed.Both director Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig co-wrote the screenplay resulting in a film so nuanced and complex that it can't help but feel personal. The crisp black and white cinematography and elliptic montages sprinkled throughout evoke memories of the French New Wave yet the straightforward narrative aims for something more oblique than simply being a disruptive force. While Jules and Jim (1962) is brassy, Frances Ha is reticent; while Vivre Sa Vie (1962) is socio- political, Frances Ha is singular. Calling back to the visual aesthetics and style of the 60's, Baumbach and Gerwig successfully build a serene naturalistic world within the bustling monoliths of New York City. In Frances's own words "It's like magic."At twenty-seven years old, Frances craves the emotional, intellectual and spiritual maturity that everyone around her seems to have. She asks others, almost naively, who she is and who she might become. She never realizes that the same people she asks don't have answers for themselves yet. Friends Benji (Zegen) and Lev (Driver) act like wayward Bohemians despite their breeding. Yet despite their pretensions they exhibit the same fears and the same aspirations as Frances and Sophie do. And much like Frances and Sophie, they eventually adapt and change. Dan and Sophie's supposedly solid relationship serves as a coda to Frances character development. The point in which Frances truly commits to change. I won't ruin the resolution to the story but I will say that when Frances muses "I like things that look like mistakes," you're still taken by her sunny disposition.Frances Ha may not impact you as much as it did me. The film entered my life around the same time the film itself enters Frances's. I feel her pain, I have experienced her disappointments and thanks to the film's stark beauty, I have shared in her small triumphs and sweetly clumsy bemusement. Frances Ha forced me to examine who I was and where I'm going; a feat few films have made me do. The film ends with our plucky hero writing her name on a label. A small detail that makes a bold, if gawky pronouncement: "I am here." It's an inspiring final tableau; one that makes me feel better about not having my life together in my late-twenties.