Starring Greta Gerwig, Analeigh Tipton
Directed by Whit Stillman
Directing his first film since 1998's Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman picks up right where he left off. Which is to say: while the writer-director's gifts for acerbic humour and verbose dialogue haven't waned in the least, his preference for flat aesthetics and affected performances suggest this comedy of manners could've just as easily been released in 1999, during the heyday of quirky American indies.
Adding to the film's timelessness is its East Coast university setting where the student body is swathed in traditional preppy pastels and electronic communication is referenced but rarely glimpsed. At the centre of the story is Violet (Greta Gerwig), a do-gooder who administers donuts to depressed kids, dates a dim-witted frat boy as a form of youth outreach, and aspires to create a new dance craze that might transcend all social classes. Watching from the sidelines and serving as the barely-audible voice of reason is Lily (Analeigh Tipton), the newest recruit to Violet's coven.
Stillman's characters have always sunk to the deepest depths of delusion, allowing an undercurrent of vibrant absurdity to colour his narratives' staid proceedings. Here, he occasionally lets the lunacy run wild, leaving the film to lapse into cartoonish farce. Fortunately, a broad gag involving suicidal soon-to-be-teachers leaping from second-storey balconies is tempered by the wicked line: If they cant even destroy themselves, how are they going to teach Americas youth?
If Stillman's spirited return offers a potent reminder of but one thing, it's this: Sometimes nothing is funnier than sincerity when it's being wielded by the witless.
