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| Courtesy of Lions Gate Films |
By now you’ve probably heard of or seen-without-realizing-it
the works of writer-director-actor Noah Baumbach. From his frequent collaborations with
writer-director Wes Anderson whose own plots and characterizations echo the
works of Baumbach to his recent Best Picture Academy Award nominee Marriage
Story, Noah Baumbach has all but established himself as a distinctly
acerbic New York based filmmaker often focused on unbending characters who can’t
get out of their own way building up to a confrontation and shaky denouement.
While the director is currently filming the
long-awaited big screen adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, the
good folks at the MVD Marquee Collection have turned their attention to
Baumbach’s second feature film, the 1997 embittered sophomore romantic comedy Mr.
Jealousy.
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| Courtesy of Lions Gate Films |
Lester Grimm (Eric Stoltz) and Ramona
Ray (Annabella Sciorra) are a young New York based couple who are double dating
with Lester’s friend Vince (Carlos Jacott) and his fiancée Lucretia (Marianne
Jean-Baptiste). On their first date
Ramona recounts a previous relationship had with ex-boyfriend turned famed
author Dashiell Frank (Chris Eigeman), stirring the longstanding and
increasingly dysfunctional jealousies of Lester who proceeds to track Dashiell
down to group therapy sessions led by Dr. Poke (legendary director Peter
Bogdanovich). Upon attending the
sessions and growing increasingly hostile towards Dashiell, Lester winds up
striking an unlikely friendship with the writer, setting the stage for a
screwball comedy scenario only absurd jealousies can conjure up.
Microbudget and a bit of a precursor to
the eventuality of mumblecore, Baumbach’s second feature is an inspired and
fresh romantic comedy with strong central performances from Eric Stoltz and
Annabella Sciorra. Stoltz has always
been a gifted character actor throughout his career but rarely does he get the
chance to hold his own in a leading role, an opportunity graciously granted by
the writer-director. Annabella Sciorra,
fresh off of Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, makes Ramona into a complex and
radiant woman unaware of her boyfriend’s increasingly paranoid stalker
behavior. Special attention also goes to
Chris Eigeman who shares the screen with Stoltz as a wealthy but confused elite
who turns out to be a companion of sorts to the film’s hero.
Visually, like most of Baumbach’s
earlier works, the film is modestly lensed by Monster cinematographer
Steven Bernstein, capturing the actors in intimate close ups throughout the New
York area while showing off the scenic locale.
The score was co-written by Robert Een and Sideways composer Luna
who offer up a soft near-jazz oriented score which perfectly captures the
distinctly upper-class New York flavor.
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| Courtesy of Lions Gate Films |
Mostly though this is a writer’s film driven by dialogue and
performances rather than technical filmmaking and for a second feature shows
enormous promise for what Baumbach’s career would develop into. While Greenberg and Marriage Story remain
the pinnacles of his ongoing filmmaking endeavors, Mr. Jealousy is a
solid early entry featuring one of the industry’s most underrated character
actors getting a chance to shine.
--Andrew Kotwicki
