Kicking, Screaming, Overhearing

Sloane Crosley is a friend of this blogger, and my respect for her only grew when I recently learned she is obsessed with one of my favorite movies, Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming. In this week's New York Observer, she discusses that obsession in funny detail. Be sure to read the whole thing, but I found this insight particularly profound. I think it's true that the movie formally alerted us to the potential art in unplanned eavesdropping:

The Web site Overheard in New York arguably owes its existence to Kicking and Screaming. In fact, the first real line of the movie takes place at the graduation party, when someone practically off-camera says, "I think violence is always justified some of the time." The closest I ever got to something that good was walking up Sixth Avenue past St. Vincent’s one night: "And I said, 'I don’t know what that thing is, but it's not touching my head unless you unplug it.'"