Emotive and Compelling 21st century version of Kramer Vs Kramer

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2019)

Noah Baumbach's latest drama focuses on themes that will resonate with many as he delves into the emotional story of love and divorce, comparable with the Oscar winning Kramer Vs Kramer.
After an effective opening voiceover scene where both Charlie (Driver) & Nicole (Johansson) tell us why they love each other we are then jarringly dropped into a therapist's room where both protagonists are in the midst of their early divorce proceedings. As the divorce intensifies for the custody of their young son so did its impact on me. It takes a while for the fireworks to get going but once Laura Dern weaves her manipulative lawyer's web, removing the amicable intentions from both parties we then get a phenomenal performance from Adam Driver in quite possibly a career best performance as he tries to deal with the underhanded tactics from the lawyer. Johansson is also in fine form but this is undeniably Driver's film. A scene where they try and talk their predicament out amicably but spirals out of control into a slanging match of insults until the emotive conclusion was my favourite scene. Hard to watch but utterly compelling thanks to both lead actors.
My only negative was Azhy Robertson who played the son in the midst of the tug of war custody battle. He was excruciatingly annoying and unconvincing.
Marriage Story is crafted perfectly at the hands of Baumbach who knows how to give us family drama with his eyes shut (see The Squid & The Whale). One of the best dramas I've seen this year that made me shed a tear at the very end.