Thursday 31 May 2018

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017 Noah Baumbach & scr)

We are in familiar Baumbach territory here with a misfunctional family redolent of The Squid and the Whale and a large cast including alumni Ben Stiller, Adam Driver and a fox (he co-wrote Fantastic Mr Fox).

With Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Grace van Patten, Elizabeth Marvel (having literally just seen her in Homeland 7), Emma Thompson, Candice Bergen, Judd Hirsch and Sigourney Weaver.




The mother of the older two at least knows she hasn't cared for them whilst father Hoffman just doesn't listen to a goddam thing. These family links and traits which emerge in shouty outbursts (almost always cut off in mid flow) are subtly introduced and weaved together. It's pretty funny.

I was most surprised to see it was shot by Robbie Ryan, though did notice a smooth and continuous hand-held tracking shot into the house, and the way the camera is right down there on the ground with Driver and Stiller fighting is recognisable. He's also shot the newest Baumbach which features Scarlett Johannson, Adam Driver and Laura Dern.

The music's by Randy Newman.

But why make the film available only on Netflix, for whom it was made? Sky always made their titles available, thus you can enjoy all series of something like Stella without being a subscriber. Amazon locks you out too - thus you can only see Roadies if you're a subscriber. I get it, but I think they are limiting the audience and limiting the sales. There's also nothing to stop you signing up for a month and then not renewing. Following the argument through logically, if we wanted our current playlist and physical media didn't exist, we'd need to subscribe to Sky, Netflix, HBO, BFI, Amazon, LoveFilm, BBC iplayer, ITV Hub and All 4 and then certain rarities and obscurities would simply be inaccessible.


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