Mistress America is the perfect November movie

Before Lady Bird, Little Women and Barbie, there was Mistress America, a small, 2015 comedy co-written by and starring Greta Gerwig. I remember watching it the year it came out, loving it and making a mental note to keep an eye out for whatever Gerwig did next. Little did I know, it was only going to get better. Many view Frances Ha, Gerwig’s first co-writing collaboration with Noah Baumbach, as her breakout film. And while Frances Ha is excellent, I’ve always been partial to Mistress America (also directed and co-written Baumbach). It’s a little weirder. A little less artsy. A lot funnier.

Mistress America is rarely available on streaming, so when it popped up on HBO whatever-it’s called-these-days, I immediately turned it on for a rewatch. And what timing! Because Mistress America is the perfect movie to watch this month. The bulk of the story takes place in early to mid-November, concluding on Thanksgiving day. If you haven’t seen it before, now is your time.

Mistress America tells the story of two soon to be step siblings: Tracy, played by Lola Kirke, is an eighteen-year-old trying to find her place at Barnard College, and Brooke, played to perfection by Gerwig, is a thirty-something trying to find her place in the world. They meet up in New York and start spending time together. Tracy is enamored by Brooke’s free spirit and spontaneous lifestyle, using it as inspiration for a short story. Brooke loves being able to impart nonsensical wisdom on someone younger who looks up to her. As they start to spend more time together, it’s clear that Brooke is not nearly as together as she pretends to be and Tracy’s motives for spending time with Brooke aren’t always one hundred percent pure. All of this comes to a head in the film’s strongest scenes when Brooke, Tracy, Tracy’s friend Tony and Tony’s girlfriend Nicolette, arrive in Connecticut to confront, make amends with and ask for money from Brooke’s ex-friend Mamie-Claire. Tell me you’re not intrigued!