Gary Inbinder's Blog - Posts Tagged "whit-stillman"
Damsels in Distress
Suppose Jane Austen, Franz Kafka, and Reinhold Niebuhr collaborated on a script for a Marx Brothers film co-directed by Luis Bunuel and Busby Berkeley. The outcome might have been Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress, a loopy comedy about late adolescent angst, depression, and suicide in a postmodern world.
"Damsels" is Stillman's fourth film in more than twenty years. Those familiar with the other three—Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco—will find themselves in familiar territory. Stillman relies primarily on characterization, ludicrous situations and cleverly incongruous dialogue, with little concern for formal plotting. The results can be hilarious or off-putting, depending on your point of view.
The story takes place at Seven Oaks, a fictional college populated, for the most part, with good-looking rich kids who can't get into academically demanding schools. Doomed to Seven Oaks for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, low intelligence, depression, and B.O., the students are in need of a savior. Pretty, intelligent, obsessive/compulsive Violet (Greta Gerwig) takes that role upon herself. With the support of two beautiful disciples, perspicacious Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and ditzy Heather (Carrie MacLemore), Violet is on a mission to save her fellow students from their self-defeating and self-destructive tendencies.
The trio brings transfer student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) into the fold, and enlists her help at the campus Suicide Prevention Center, commonly known as The Suicide Center. The girls become romantically involved with several young men including Charlie aka Fred (Adam Brody), Xavier (pronounced Zavier as in Zorro) (Hugo Becker) and frat doofuses (or doufi; there is a typically funny bit of dialogue between the girls about the correct plural of doofus) Frank (Ryan Metcalf) and Thor (Billy Magnussen) who apparently failed to learn about colors in pre-school, and must "hit the books" in college so he can distinguish between blue and green.
After being dumped by her doofus boyfriend, Violet goes on a manic depressive walkabout in search of the Holy Grail, which comes to her in the form of a miraculous scented soap she discovers in a cheap motel bathroom. She subsequently expresses her ecstasy at finding the Grail by inventing a new ballroom dance-step and offering the sacred soap to the hygienically challenged students.
Overall, I liked the film and was especially impressed with Greta Gerwig's performance. However, the thin plot dragged at times and the humor seemed a bit more forced and contrived than it was in Stillman's earlier films. Nevertheless, Damsels in Distress is a refreshing change from typical Hollywood fare, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to Stillman fans, or to those who are in search of a movie that's funny in a goofy, intelligent sort of way and unafraid of being "different."
"Damsels" is Stillman's fourth film in more than twenty years. Those familiar with the other three—Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco—will find themselves in familiar territory. Stillman relies primarily on characterization, ludicrous situations and cleverly incongruous dialogue, with little concern for formal plotting. The results can be hilarious or off-putting, depending on your point of view.
The story takes place at Seven Oaks, a fictional college populated, for the most part, with good-looking rich kids who can't get into academically demanding schools. Doomed to Seven Oaks for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, low intelligence, depression, and B.O., the students are in need of a savior. Pretty, intelligent, obsessive/compulsive Violet (Greta Gerwig) takes that role upon herself. With the support of two beautiful disciples, perspicacious Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and ditzy Heather (Carrie MacLemore), Violet is on a mission to save her fellow students from their self-defeating and self-destructive tendencies.
The trio brings transfer student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) into the fold, and enlists her help at the campus Suicide Prevention Center, commonly known as The Suicide Center. The girls become romantically involved with several young men including Charlie aka Fred (Adam Brody), Xavier (pronounced Zavier as in Zorro) (Hugo Becker) and frat doofuses (or doufi; there is a typically funny bit of dialogue between the girls about the correct plural of doofus) Frank (Ryan Metcalf) and Thor (Billy Magnussen) who apparently failed to learn about colors in pre-school, and must "hit the books" in college so he can distinguish between blue and green.
After being dumped by her doofus boyfriend, Violet goes on a manic depressive walkabout in search of the Holy Grail, which comes to her in the form of a miraculous scented soap she discovers in a cheap motel bathroom. She subsequently expresses her ecstasy at finding the Grail by inventing a new ballroom dance-step and offering the sacred soap to the hygienically challenged students.
Overall, I liked the film and was especially impressed with Greta Gerwig's performance. However, the thin plot dragged at times and the humor seemed a bit more forced and contrived than it was in Stillman's earlier films. Nevertheless, Damsels in Distress is a refreshing change from typical Hollywood fare, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to Stillman fans, or to those who are in search of a movie that's funny in a goofy, intelligent sort of way and unafraid of being "different."
