FROM NEW YORK TO L.A.

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2019)

And the Oscar goes to...
Pretty well everyone involved: leads Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, supporting actors Laura Dern and Alan Alda, director writer Noah Baumbach. Award spoilers aside, there's a damn startling movie here. Hollywood has tackled divorce often, and fumbled, until now. Eschewing the staid good guy vs. bad guy conflict, Baumbach zeroes in on a wonderful and lively young family, coming apart in a slow, spreading crack, that despite all good intentions, just keeps growing like a Roadrunner cartoon.
"Marriage Story" is an infuriatingly frustrating tale of characters who click as a couple, bubble with natural chemistry, yet can't quite transition past their early, blinding, love-in stage, when redefining transition is absolutely crucial. A universal conflict this. Driver and Johansson are exquisitely real in their roles, wrapping each other in delicious camaraderie, stepping out of comfort zones to seek solutions, snapping pettiness in conflict, crumbling at frustration. Can't help but cheer for their bliss, and tear up at their unravelling. Emotional roller coasters don't come much hairier.
Baumbach isn't afraid to poke, prod and twist deep into messy psyches on a journey revealing the complexities of human nature. Even in turmoil, amidst the vitriol, sometimes there is revelation. The lesson here: a lot of relationships unfurl because individuals crave their freedom, is a tough one because there isn't a magic solution, and sometimes happens. Also: lawyers are the worst.
A tough but worthwhile watch.