Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha is the hipster version of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall.

Frances Ha tells a moment in life of wannabe dancer Frances, 27, who live in New York from apartment to apartment and from a job to another. The skinny plot may appear of an unbearable lightness, but anyway, this is a film about an apprentice who must learn lightness to achieve a dancing career. As the main character is an echo to the smooth lunacy of Annie Hall, the black and white fabrique reminds us of Manhattan. Without Allen’s humor, without Gershiwn‘s Rhapsody in Blue. In a way, the authors have replaced the usual Allen heterosexual plot with a womance – an ambiguous friendship between two women – to balance their story. They also have a character who writes scripts and gags for SNL, sort of a wannabe Woody Allen, and Frances, who is undateable. The circle is fulfilled. What remains is a well written portrait, almost a documentary, of a certain category of socially gifted youngsters who drift in the so called creative industries. Not more, not less of we could attend from the author of The Life Aquatic and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Frances Ha – a Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig film. Starring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Summer, Adam Driver. Cinematography by Sam Levy. USA, 2013.