Current Cinema: Marriage Story (2019)

Directed by Noah Baumbach. Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julie Haggerty, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Wallace Shawn, Laura Dern, Azhy Robertson. Running time: 136 minutres. Released December 9, 2019.

Noah Baumbach's films often say more when characters are having an awkward silence than when dialog is rapidly spewing during arguments or overlapping discussions. And there are a number of effectively awkward silences in "Marriage Story," which examines the relationship of two creative people.

Scarlett Johansson is Nicole, an actress who appears in her husband's indie plays in New York, having forgone a possible movie career that was just starting when she became a wife and, soon afterward, a mother. Adam Driver is Charlie, a theater director who is connected to New York, hates Los Angeles, and is just starting to get somewhere, with a play that is headed for Broadway. The couple loves each other, but hates the sacrifices each has made, and now as they approach middle age, their regrets are stronger and their bitterness rises to the surface.

As the two of them confront their emotional next step, a series of events occurs that shows both the likable innocence and the dislikable seediness. Charlie, it is revealed, had an affair during their marriage. But Nicole discovers this by illegally hacking his emails. Nicole gets a high powered female attorney. Charlie responds with a forceful male attorney of his own. The couple's attempt to separate themselves and work it out with each other results in a heated argument that escalates to things better left unsaid.

Adam Driver is a veteran of Baumbach's films, and connects with the director's vision. He plays Charlie as both confused and bitter, creatively inspired and an insecure sore loser, a man who cries at movies and explodes in such anger he punches a hole in the wall. Scarlett Johansson's career continues to grow with her layered performance as a woman who is both betrayed and vindictive, prone to drunkeness at night despite the presence of their small child, and at the same time returning to video acting and finding the success that had eluded her. Charlie's Broadway opportunity fizzles because he has to keep flying back to L.A. for divorce business. Nicole gets a sitcom role, directs an episode, and is nominated for an Emmy.

Baumbach takes us through a challenging period in this couple's life, and allows them to still remain friendly as the film ends. The final moments are quite moving -- and without dialog.

Hailed by many critics as one of 2019's best films, the only flaw of "Marriage Story" is its length. It was protracted in parts and could have been edited down by as much as a half hour. Kudos to supporting work by Laura Dern, Ray Liotta, and Alan Alda, all of whom are acting veterans that have comfortably aged into character roles. Wallace Shawn is fun as an extension of himself. Julie Haggerty also scores as Nicole's flighty mother.