American indie movie regular Greta Gerwig has played the kooky best friend (Damsels in Distress) and the kooky girlfriend (Arthur), now she takes centre stage in Frances Ha as a New Yorker who is, you guessed it, somewhat kooky.
Flitting from flatshare to flatshare, the newly single Frances seems carefree and fun-loving but clearly hankers after something more whether it be advancing her work as a dancer or her friendship with Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of Sting).
Both developments seem increasingly unlikely in this black and white comedy written and directed by Gerwig's boyfriend Noah Baumbach, who first directed her in Greenberg.
It's a self-consciously hip but funny character portrait with a dash of surrealism, thats all the better for focusing on female friendships rather than romance.
Whether dancing (badly) in the street or causing awkward silences at dinner parties, Gerwig is brilliant and frustrating in equal measure. Probably just how she'd like it.
