My record collection
[378] Margot at the Wedding (DVD)

Another Noah Baumbach film so, of course, another Dean Wareham contribution. This time credited with Britta as “music consultants” and also Dean & Britta’s Northern Blue appears in the film.

Margot at the Wedding

Also… another Noah Baumbach film so another film I just don’t get. In my post on The Squid and the Whale I say that “I don’t understand the characters and the way they behave […] all I see is horrible people behaving horribly to one another” and Margot at the Wedding dials that up to eleven. I must admit I do feel a bit bad not liking these films but they are so unlikeable and Margot at the Wedding is probably the most unlikeable of Noah’s films.

Sorry to be repeating what I said about The Squid and the Whale but I genuinely think there must be some regional disconnect at play here, or maybe a social one. There’s something about the way these people behave that makes absolutely no sense to me.

I do like the way the film has been made, the movement of the actors, and the camera. The way people interact makes it interesting as a visual spectacle… and the acting can’t be faulted - and that is quite a cast that has been assembled here. But it’s not a film I can like and not one I’d want to see again.

I haven’t as yet managed to track down a copy of the soundtrack album but do have a download of it and it certainly has the fingerprints of the film’s “music consultants” on it. As well as Dean & Britta’s “Northern Blue” it has Evie Sands “One Fine Summer Morning” and Donovan’s “Teen Angel” both of which have been covered by Dean and/or Britta.

The thing about the Dean & Britta song is that it’s listed first implying that it’s the first song heard… but it isn’t, that’s Steve Forbert’s “Romeo’s Tune” which is heard in the car as Margot and Claude are being driven to Pauline’s. So… where is Nothern Blue? Is it what Claude is listening to on his headphones on the train? I guess it has to be - but, I can’t hear it.

I’m rather surprised that I haven’t shared Northern Blue before since it is a rarity, having just shown up on the soundtrack album (and maybe not even in the film).

Dean & Britta - Northern Blue

• Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/020
• Title: Margot at the Wedding
• Format: DVD
• Bought in a charity shop a while back for a quid (or less).

Previously in my record collection:

• [294] The Squid and the Whale (DVD)