I guess marriage can be a story but divorce is a nightmare. Not giving anything away by revealing that this marriage story is mostly about a divorce. With a kid. Living on opposite U. S. coasts. A nightmare…

Story: Charlie and Nicole Barber are getting divorced. I don’t know if there is a way to tell a divorce story well. The details of a divorce are just not conducive to eloquent fodder.

I’m going through two divorces with friends right now – simultaneously – and so this is the revelation: they suck but they do all tend to follow a similar pattern. Most couples start out wanting to cooperate then end up wasting money trying to out lawyer each other.

Noah Baumbach certainly captures the tone of divorce in this film. The lawyers… the in-laws… the taking sides… But it’s an independent film so, reality looms large no matter the subject…

The only detail that is missed is the trauma to the kid. There were some minor kerfuffles that gave off little reaction, but were mostly glossed over. That is not the norm. A kid always has a major blow up somewhere being stuck between two divorcing parents. Is real…

Performances: Adam Driver is Charlie and Scarlett Johansson is Nicole. Their 8-year-old son is Henry. Both performances are good. I’m particularly struck by Adam Driver as his theatre roots show. Potential Oscar nominations? Likely…

And this film does have a cast of characters. Laura Dern is Nicole’s lawyer; Alan Alda is Charlie’s first, reasonable lawyer until he needs an unreasonable lawyer, who is Ray Liotta. And Julie Hagerty plays Nicole’s mother who adores Charlie. Perfect storm.

Visual: The nature of the independent film is to be real and raw and validating to SOMEONE. This film meets all of those tests. It even highlights the stark difference between New York and LA… The people and the landscape.

Rating: Marriage Story gets a B+. Whenever I give a + it’s because the film is just shy of… something. This rating likely has more to do with the subject matter than anything. It’s bittersweet because it’s a well done film about an unpleasant experience.

Not a feel-good film, but worth seeing.