greenberg2 — Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans and Ben Stiller in Greenberg

At their worst, American indie films tend to confuse slightness with subtlety and artlessness with authenticity. Many of them take the form of inert slice-of-life pieces that have no greater ambition than to present the unvarnished reality of life in middle-class America.

Under the nonchalance of their shrugged shoulders, they are often as mannered and self-absorbed as a Generation-X slacker dressing down to impress. Greenberg, the new film from director Noah Baumbach, rolls all of those vices into its 107 minute running time.

It’s one of those films where nothing much happens for the best part of two hours, except a lot of chatter between characters that are not quite as fascinating as the director and writers imagine them to be.

Ben Stiller plays the title role of Roger Greenberg, a 40-year old idler who has done little since the age of 25 when he caused his band to walk away from a record deal. He returns from New York to his hometown of Los Angeles to housesit for his brother and figure out his life after a nervous breakdown.

The film’s strongest point is the trio of understated performances from Stiller and his co-stars, Rhys Ifans and Greta Gerwig. Baumbach, a director who evidently likes to make his audience squirm, is ruthless in his depiction of Greenberg. He calls upon Stiller to summon up every ounce of meanness to play a character who is bitter, petulant, and insensitive.

Greenberg spits out venomous comments when his fragile ego is hurt. Perhaps even worse, he’s often too self-involved to even know when his words are wounding. Baumbach’s decision to make such a thoroughly unlikeable protagonist his lead character is a courageous one.

No real context or justifications are offered for Greenberg’s behaviour, save for some poor judgement and disappointments similar to those that his friends have endured. That is somewhat refreshing, given the Hollywood tendency of explaining a character’s flaws away by means of a single big trauma, but it also makes this an alienating film to watch.

Greenberg trailer on YouTube:

Gerwig plays Florence, an au pair and assistant to Roger’s brother and his family. Flat, passive and at sea in the world, she embarks on an ill-advised affair with Greenberg. One senses that she sees Greenberg as something of a kindred soul because she feels her youth drifting away from her as his did from him.

Ifans is Greenberg’s best friend — a former member of his band, who has settled into middle-aged suburban life with good grace after beating his addictions to various chemicals. This quiet, dignified man is perhaps the most interesting character in the film. The way that he and Florence tolerate so much of Greenberg’s abuse didn’t quite ring true for me.

How you feel about Greenberg will depend largely on how you feel about indie character studies in general. Though there are some admirable elements, there’s part of me that yearns for these films to take a stab at redemption, to recognise the cathartic and transformative power of art.

Greenberg the film is as solipsistic as Greenberg the character. It is the voice of Generation X now that it has hit its mid-life crisis. Pity it still has nothing more interesting to say than “Oh well, whatever, nevermind”. — Lance Harris, TechCentral