Stars:
***
Rating: R for nudity and profanity
Run
Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Noah
Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale”) knows his way around an honest exploration
of family and friendship and “Margot” serves to reinforce the point.
Baumbach
begins by pairing Nicole Kidman and real-life wife Jennifer Jason Leigh as squabbling
sisters on the edge. Margot (Kidman) is a neurotic Manhattan type-A who sucks
up her pride and sets off for the wedding of thorny, estranged sister Pauline
(Jason Leigh) with teenage son Claude (Zane Pais) in tow.
From the
moment she sets foot on the family homestead Margot caustically passes judgment
on the status quo, condemning Pauline’s intended (Jack Black as chubby
underachiever Malcolm) and generally raking everyone over the coals.
The
sisters’ complex relationship is a breeding ground for festering emotional
sores both fresh and healing. Childhood stings, parental abuses, even the
run-down state of the family home coalesce in a gale force of competition and
dread.
Margot’s
own marriage is troubled enough to restlessly rekindle a long-lost spark with
next-door neighbor and fellow author Dick Koosman (Ciarán Hinds). Malcolm and
the ubiquitous babysitter make mischief while the neighbors turn ugly over a
bordering tree they want to cut down. The very tree that will shade Malcolm and
Pauline’s wedding vows; bad omen if ever there was one!
Baumbach
goes heavy on the discourse, thick on speechy sentiment that serves to annoy as
much as impress. Hand-held camerawork is calculatedly jerky and lighting pure
ambience; so “natural” (read: dark) I squinted through much of the run time.
Kidman
steps out of the box and nails her chaotic sib with savage wit and fuss. Black,
Jason Leigh and newcomer Pais two-step in loosely choreographed sync; the
results are peculiar and peculiarly pleasing.