Marriage Story

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🎙️ EPISODE 228: 12.19.19 When Marriage Story begins, the marriage in question is already over. Here and there, in the beginning, the viewer might even question why they split up in the first place, or if they might get back together, but it becomes clear soon enough that, in the words of The Replacements’ “Never Mind” ...it’s all over but the shouting.

And so let’s talk about the shouting. That instantly meme-worthy scene that took the internet by storm as soon as this puppy hit Netflix: wow. I mistakenly watched that and just that, and in comparison to the understated, well-edited trailers, it was an assault. It seemed as if there was no way the film could find itself there, or worse: was that, could that be the tonal emotional average? Thankfully, it is not. At all. And, though that scene mostly doesn’t work, it doesn’t feel so out of place that the viewer is pulled away from the story. This is a film about tension, and the majority of that tension is unseen or implied. There’s a lot of passive aggressiveness on display and that felt real.

This is low 9 out of 10 in my opinion. I don’t think it’s Baumbach’s best, but it’s at least his best since 2013’s Frances Ha. (Quick impromptu ranking of Baumbach ranking: #1 Squid, #2 Frances #3 Greenburg #4? Probably this… and then the rest (sorry, Kicking and Screaming heads)

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 227 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 229 ⫸

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