Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Mistress America Blu-ray Movie Review

There she goes. . .off the deep end.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2015

Noah Baumbach’s fascination with the vagaries of youth continues with Mistress America, the fledgling auteur’s latest collaboration with main squeeze Greta Gerwig, who appears here as the polar opposite of Frances Ha, albeit within a context that is perhaps deliberately reminiscent of that 2012 film. In Mistress America Gerwig essays the role of Brooke Cardines, a manic Manhattanite who is (at various times) a groupie, spin class leader, prospective restaurant entrepreneur and (just for good measure) interior decorator. Brooke careens through life like a windup toy that’s been granted a magical energy supply that never wanes, something that instantly endears her to nerdy new college student Tracy Fishko (Lola Kirke). Tracy is having a hard time matriculating at Barnard, and in a pre-Thanksgiving phone chat with her mother (Kathryn Erbe), her mom suggests that Tracy try to meet Brooke, who is the daughter of the man Tracy’s mother is planning on marrying on Thanksgiving. The two young women will then be stepsisters, and Tracy’s mom is certain they’ll get along famously. Tracy is a bit on the shy side and isn’t initially swayed to contact Brooke, but when her application to Barnard’s tony literary magazine society is rejected, and when another Tony (Matthew Shear) doesn’t seem to recognize Tracy has an inordinate crush on him and he ends up with the petulant Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), Tracy takes a deep breath and reaches out to Brooke, who turns out to be everything Tracy’s mom thought she would be, and more. The two meet at Times Square, at which point Brooke takes Tracy on a whirlwind tour of various after hours haunts in the Big Apple, something that seems downright awe inspiring to the slightly wallflower-ish Tracy.

Baumbach’s films tend to be very strong on character if occasionally displaying deficits in the narrative arc department, and some may feel that that’s once again the case with regard to Mistress America. Brooke arrives as a fully formed character, a kind of slightly scattered Venus on the half shell as it were, with little effort given as to how or why she became that way. That may actually help deliver the visceral impact that Tracy feels when she first meets her, but it just as probably deprives the audience of an emotional rapport with the character, something that Baumbach and Gerwig are obviously aiming for, given the film’s fairly traditional (ultimate) feel good ethos.

Mistress America may deliver some aspects like Brooke’s odd but captivating character as a fait accompli, but in other ways, Baumbach and Gerwig’s screenplay rather carefully lays the foundation for what turns out be the film’s central farcical sequence, when an almost Molière-esque array of characters and plot points intersect when Brooke’s plans for a kinda sorta restaurant, barber shop, coffee emporium and art studio fall through. That in turn leads Brooke, Tracy, Tony and Nicolette on the road to Connecticut, where a spiritualist has informed Brooke she’ll need to make amends with her “nemesis,” a connivingly mercenary woman named Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind).

It’s probably not fair to reveal too much of the interpersonal dynamics which play out, other than to say that the long simmering discord between Mamie-Claire and Tracy, which includes Mamie-Claire’s husband (and Tracy’s former boyfriend, hence some of the misery) Dylan (Michael Chernus), comes to a froth at about the same time that Nicolette suspects Tony may be having a fling with Tracy. As if that weren’t enough door slamming potential, add in a pregnant book club guest, a litigious neighbor, and—in a plot point which has actually been central—the fact that Tracy’s writer’s block after having been rejected by the literary magazine found a quick cure when Tracy came to the obvious conclusion that Brooke would make the perfect basis for a character in a short story, leading to a piece that Nicolette gets her hands on and delivers to Brooke, much to Brooke’s dismay.

There’s something kind of deliciously wacky about little sight gags like the multitudes of people at Mamie-Claire and Dylan’s luxe Connecticut pad huddling together to read Tracy’s tome about Brooke, with the fastest reader getting the umbrage of everyone else when she tries to turn the page too quickly, and it’s in fact in little moments like these that Baumbach and Gerwig really build some significant, if almost inherently picayune, humor. The film is probably less successful on a macro level, though the slowly unfolding relationship between the putative stepsisters provides appealing if never overwhelming emotional components.

Tracy makes a point during one interchange with Brooke that she, Tracy, is “normal”, but if there’s one thing that Mistress America is free of, it’s a humdrum character (aside from a perhaps underutilized Erbe). The scintillating banter between these hyperarticulate souls is what gives Mistress America is sweetly captivating edge, but it also engenders a certain distance, since no one really speaks or acts like a “normal” person throughout this film. Still, while probably overly self conscious, there’s a commendable naturalness to much of what unfolds, and Gerwig and Kirke make for an instantly memorable distaff odd couple.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf had a perhaps slightly less positive reaction to Mistress America when it screened theatrically. You can read Brian's assessment here.

Mistress America Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mistress America is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa, this is a decently sharp and well detailed transfer than nonetheless may evoke a solid "meh" out of some videophiles due to the lack of any real consistent pop to the visuals. It looks like Baumbach and DP Sam Levy shot at least some of this during late fall or winter, and as such there's kind of a dreary overcast look to a lot of the exterior scenes, especially a couple in Connecticut. Low light (as in low to the horizon) also tends to creep into the interior scenes from outside, at times giving a slightly soft look when characters are directly in front of windows (which happens repeatedly at the super cool pad of Mamie-Claire and Dylan). All of this said, detail is quite good, especially in close-ups, where elements like the frizz on Tracy's hip beret are documented with excellent precision. Shadow definition is surprisingly commendable in a couple of dimly lit and/or nighttime scenes.

Mistress America Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One of the highlights of Mistress America is the retro-80s synth laden score by Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham, and the Blu-ray's DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 track supports that whimsical element very well, as it also does with the glut of source cues Baumbach stuffs into the proceedings. Some of the urban cityscape scenes offer excellent immersion courtesy of the hustle and bustle of downtown Manhattan, and a couple of relatively brief exterior scenes in Connecticut offer some discrete placement of environmental effects. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and is well prioritized on this problem free track.

Mistress America Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Featurettes are a trio of very short EPK-fests focusing on the following subjects:

  Story (1080p; 3:36)

  Brooke (1080p; 1:38)

  Tracy (1080p; 1:50)

• Gallery (1080p; 2:05) offers both a Manual Advance an an Auto Advance option. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:21)

Mistress America Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Baumbach can be an acquired taste, but in some ways Mistress America is one of the more easily accessible entries from this typically interesting writer-director. The film's humor is more whimsical than hilarious, though there are a couple of laugh out loud moments once the full flower of the farcical elements blossom later in the proceedings. Gerwig and Kirke have wonderful chemistry together, and the supporting cast is colorful and enjoyable. Technical merits are strong, and even without much in the way of supplements Mistress America comes Recommended.