Now & Then: Millennialism

For our occasional series, here is the latest from Lawrence Michael Levine, paired with his previous effort, his 2010 debut behind the camera. Both star Sophia Takal (the new Greta Gerwig). (A previous Now & Then entry is here.)

WILD CANARIES (B) - Writer/director Levine and his muse, Takal, play Noah and Barri, an engaged couple living in hipster Brooklyn and squabbling a lot over money -- he runs a failing company and she has pie-in-the-sky real estate ambitions with her crushy pal Jean (Alia Shawkat, from TV's "Arrested Development"). It's a wacky millennial take on the caper movie.

After the elderly neighbor in the only remaining rent-controlled unit in their building keels over from an apparent heart attack, Barri suspects foul play by the dead woman's visiting son (Kevin Corrigan alert!), thinking he may have knocked her off for financial purposes. But then Barri -- now clad in a trench coat, wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses and prone to breaking into their neighbors' apartments -- widens her list of suspects to include asshole landlord Damien (Jason Ritter), who's also having money troubles and whose marriage is falling apart. Is Barri being silly or is she truly on to something criminal?

The plot and execution are serviceable enough, and Levine actually makes it all fairly believable . However, the thrill of this film -- like in "Gabi," below -- is the realism embedded in his characters and their dialogue. He's about 10 years older than Takal, and Noah can be a really controlling prick. Barri, meanwhile, is a bit scattered, and refuses to buckle under the oppressiveness of the of the older man. Their fights feel organic and unsettling.

Levine also is quietly confident in juggling the relationships between the characters. Both Noah's old girlfriend, Eleanor (Annie Parisse), and Barri's friend Jean are lesbians, and their entanglements in the main couple's lives play out in subtle ways that are neither predictable nor trite. These shallow yuppies on a lark have heart and soul.

The snappy interactions are leavened by a decent amount of slapstick. Levine is quite adept at physical humor. He spends most of the movie wearing a neck brace (and sporting a black eye). Takal is a wonder. Quick with semi-improvised dialogue and with a trick-bag of facial expressions that communicate warmth and intelligence.

It all culminates in -- another corny nod to the Hitchcock generation -- an abandoned warehouse.  It's a bit of a a rushed and overly tidy ending, but hey, the kids are having fun.

GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY (2010) (B+) -  Takal -- a young woman of many masks, recalling Isabelle Huppert -- gives a fascinating performance as an emotionally stunted 20-year-old spending her summer away from Oberlin with her brother and his friends in Brooklyn.

Levine plays Sam, Gabi's frustrated brother, who is struggling in his relationship with Madeline (an intense Brooke Bloom) and is tempted by his ex, Chelsea (a powerful Amy Seimetz from "Upstream Color"). Gabi acts out precociously in typical art-brat fashion, often involving Takal stripping full-frontal (Gabi declares one day at the apartment Naked Day and insists that everyone, her brother included, join in).

Levine eventually settles on a compelling story -- Sam's tortured romantic dilemma -- while turning Gabi's little journey into a subplot that adds an important layer. This easily could have been Mumblecore masturbation with Levine just parading around his deep bench of cute actress pals. Kate Lyn Sheil looks genuinely stoned as Gabi's BFF Dory. Tarajia Morrell makes an impression in a cameo as a gallery manager, Astrid, vainly trying to interview a childish Gabi, who spends the whole time just parroting everything Astrid says and does. Louis Cancelmi steals scenes with his electric personality as macho Garrett, another stoner who looks like he was born to seduce women with his mischievous snark and five-o'clock shadow.

Lena Dunham shows up early on as Garrett's nagging girlfriend, and I couldn't help thinking that Dunham was taking a lot of notes on set, because Gabi could easily be a prototype for Shoshana and Jessa on "Girls" two years later. Gabi's valley-girl affect and art-world obnoxiousness share a sensibility with the world of "Girls" and Dunham's "Tiny Furniture," which was released in 2012.

In the end, we appreciate the roots of Gabi's stunted development and acting out. Levine has found talented actors to fill in the gaps in his thin script, and he confidently harnesses this ensemble into a coherent story that manages to plumb emotion from a bunch of directionless young adults.