The Squid and the Whale filmmaker Noah Baumbach has become kind of a Reeler favorite in a way--sort of a symbol of everything that is good linking New York film's past, present and future. Is he a genius? Who cares? If his great chat with The Onion AV Club's Noel Murray is any indication, the guy has the genuine gift of not forgetting where he is from even as--in many ways--he admits to still figuring it out:

AVC: Just about everyone who grew up in Middle America can wrap their head around childhood in Steven Spielberg's Los Angeles or John Hughes' Chicago, because they look pretty familiar, but there aren't many movies about childhood in New York. Were you aware of what it meant to grow up as a city boy?

NB: Well, the movie kind of documents this without ever really articulating it, but growing up in Brooklyn felt like being outside of the action. [Laughs.] It's isolated from Manhattan, and Manhattan seemed like this incredible place where really interesting people had dinner parties. Wes Anderson grew up in Houston, and he and I talk about Manhattan in similar ways, as a kind of fantasy world. I think he really experienced New York through The New Yorker and New York movies and New York fiction, so I was definitely more connected to it than he was. But I live in Manhattan now, because, in a way, it was my fantasy. [Laughs.]

That said, I guess I probably took New York for granted. Growing up, playing in the street, going down to the Avenue to the record store and to the grocery store and stuff like that. But I don't have a driver's license as an adult, so it's also stymied me in other ways. I remember when I saw E.T. as a kid, and when they were flying and I saw all the pools, I remember thinking that was hilarious. [Laughs.] You know, like, "What a great touch!" But of course if you grow up out there, that's just obvious.

Yeah, well, I grew up out there, and it absolutely is obvious. So on a day when Scorsese is in Morocco talking about shooting in Japan, shouldn't a New York filmmaker confounded by his hometown's mystique feel sort of like a triumph? Maybe it is just the immediate thrill of a not-as-jaded New York artist. Either way, you have got to admit the whole thing is soooo refreshing. I am sure he will soon flee for London soon enough, but enjoy it until then.