pplpod Episode 23 dives into Noah Baumbach’s sharp, bittersweet cinema—stories where love, ambition, and neurosis collide in New York apartments and cross-country custody battles. We trace his 1990s debut with Kicking and Screaming, the critical leap of The Squid and the Whale, and a run of prickly, funny, deeply humane films: Margot at the Wedding, Greenberg, Frances Ha, While We’re Young, Mistress America, The Meyerowitz Stories, Marriage Story, and White Noise. Inside the craft: screwball rhythms in modern clothes, long takes that let mess breathe, and dialogue that cuts while staying tender. We also get into collaborations—with Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver, Ben Stiller, and a repertory of actors—and how Baumbach turns autobiography into art without flinchin ...