section_path: Career/Style
section_name: Style
paragraph_text: Style
  
  In his own words, Baena described his films as "destabilizing, unmoored, and full of chaos"; literary author William Deresiewicz wrote they are "odd, generically hybrid, tonally complex". Ryan Gilbey wrote in an obituary for The Guardian that despite some similarities and all sharing "some unforeseen emotional kick, the subjects and styles were strikingly dissimilar"; Gilbey added that Baena planned this intention, as he did not want to do the same thing more than once. Baena enjoyed creative freedom to mix genres and expectations, and preferred not to use labels for his works so as to not create generic expectations. He was considered one of the prominent filmmakers of the mumblecore subgenre. His films found a cult audience, while critics acknowledged his consistent attention to topics that were not frequently tackled in Hollywood movies: Baena's films broadly deal with themes of grief, loss, love and mental health.
  
  He "never really audition, ever" for his films, saying he was inspired by Federico Fellini choosing performers based on seeing them in a more natural setting than a line reading. Baena created ideas of characters then, once he knew which actors he would use, would "try to build the part around them, and... make it more true." He ended up with a group of frequent collaborators, particularly Brie, Plaza, Molly Shannon, Lauren Weedman and Paul Reiser (who each starred in four of his five films) – this was primarily because Baena enjoyed working with them and wanted to bring out new things from actors he enjoyed. In discussing his actor collaborations, Baena cited an ability to move seamlessly between comedy and drama as a common attribute. He also found it advantageous to work with familiar actors due to his own "slightly nontraditional way" of writing and directing, so that he could rely on performers who understood his process. Baena typically wrote and worked from film outlines, rather than full screenplays, so his films could incorporate improvisation, though his first and final films, Life After Beth and Spin Me Round, were more traditional.
  
  In his own words, Baena described his films as "destabilizing, unmoored, and full of chaos"; literary author William Deresiewicz wrote they are "odd, generically hybrid, tonally complex". Ryan Gilbey wrote in an obituary for The Guardian that despite some similarities and all sharing "some unforeseen emotional kick, the subjects and styles were strikingly dissimilar"; Gilbey added that Baena planned this intention, as he did not want to do the same thing more than once. Baena enjoyed creative freedom to mix genres and expectations, and preferred not to use labels for his works so as to not create generic expectations. He was considered one of the prominent filmmakers of the mumblecore subgenre. His films found a cult audience, while critics acknowledged his consistent attention to topics that were not frequently tackled in Hollywood movies: Baena's films broadly deal with themes of grief, loss, love and mental health.
  
  He "never really audition, ever" for his films, saying he was inspired by Federico Fellini choosing performers based on seeing them in a more natural setting than a line reading. Baena created ideas of characters then, once he knew which actors he would use, would "try to build the part around them, and... make it more true." He ended up with a group of frequent collaborators, particularly Brie, Plaza, Molly Shannon, Lauren Weedman and Paul Reiser (who each starred in four of his five films) – this was primarily because Baena enjoyed working with them and wanted to bring out new things from actors he enjoyed. In discussing his actor collaborations, Baena cited an ability to move seamlessly between comedy and drama as a common attribute. He also found it advantageous to work with familiar actors due to his own "slightly nontraditional way" of writing and directing, so that he could rely on performers who understood his process. Baena typically wrote and worked from film outlines, rather than full screenplays, so his films could incorporate improvisation, though his first and final films, Life After Beth and Spin Me Round, were more traditional.