Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach - Nine out of 10

Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach

Nine out of 10

If we look at the numbers for this motion picture, the only questions left to answer might be how spectacular it could be and if it would be included with the best of the year, the decade or maybe it would get even better, considering the fact that it has the most nominations for The Golden Globes that will be awarded in a few weeks’ time, including for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading and supporting Role, for Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern respectively, for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Adam Driver, for Best Screenplay and for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

And yet, this viewer was not overwhelmed, although the quality of the performances is not in doubt, they are solid, remarkable, if not crushing – indeed, seeing one small, independent film on Cinemax, Le trip a trois, which only had one critic writing about it and connecting the note with IMDB, the under signed wondered what is the tremendous difference between it and Marriage Story that would cause one work to travel into oblivion and the other to collect all the laurels.

Much of the (nonexistent) trouble lies with the high expectations that are associated with a feature, and so much else for that matter, that is declared one of the best of the year and the tendency we might have to look for flaws where otherwise we would not be so critical – then ‘the mind is its own place, it can make heaven out of hell and hell out of heaven’ and for the negative ones, this heavenly production might attract criticism, albeit audiences have rated it with 8.4 out of 10 and thus this has become one of the Top Rated Movies, at 115 among all-time favorites…

Critics have been exhilarated and have given it an astounding 94(!)out of 100 on average, with some reputable outfits seeing it as perfect – The Telegraph, Time Out, The Hollywood Reporter and Varity among others, indeed, the latter says this about the film:

“At once funny, scalding, and stirring, built around two bravura performances of incredible sharpness and humanity, it’s the work of a major film artist, one who shows that he can capture life in all its emotional detail and complexity — and, in the process, make a piercing statement about how our society now works.”

Ergo, it is difficult to argue with others who evidently know much better – besides, what would be the point – and we could say that this accomplished movie is surely more than worth watching and stick with the idea that we just need to establish to what degree we are taken aback by the acting of Scarlett Johansson – very good, but is it really historic? – and Adam Driver – very efficient, but again, should it win over Robert De Niro in The Irishman?

In conclusion, this cinephile enjoyed better an earlier work by the writer director Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale, from 2005, starring the iconic Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and the now established Jesse Eisenberg, who was launching his successful career back then, although Marriage Story is a very good motion picture, with or without the immense buzz surrounding it