I have always been into edgy, dark, existential-type films, (think for instance: David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, PT Anderson, Francis Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick) or, you know, French, New Wave films (Bresson, Truffant, Godard), that always left me scratching my head afterwards, wondering just what I had just seen. I love movies that make me think, and disorient me, and make me question my own hold on reality.
Yesterday we sat in a big theater on a nice summer afternoon and saw such a film. First it's a HILARIOUS film. From the first scene to the last it had my companion and I in stitches. Which is a fine, rare thing for sure.
But it was also a film that asked the big questions: What is it to be Human? How are we supposed to deal with Aging, Death, and Constant Uncertainty? How can we deal with a reality that is always changing? How do we get our heads around the idea the idea that nothing is perfect?
It was also a film that critiqued the Patriarchy, and our Capitalistic Consumer Culture. It seemed to be "WOKE" to the MAX in a good, and essential, way, and it was delightfully subversive. Blowing up our cultural perfect pictures of how Woman and Men act in our world.
It turned everything upside down. Brilliant, a total kick, blows your mind. I kid you not, the movie, is a revolution, a movement, a major artistic statement.
That movie is "Barbie" (2023). Directed by Greta Gerwig, written by Greta and Noah Baumbach. An amazing, enjoyable, entertaining, ridiculously-head-opening, film, really. Like I said, I surprised my self. BARBIE?!? Yes. Really... Barbie...
