box-office battle of the genders
Today is the day. BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER are in theaters. First up: Barbie.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, she and her husband, filmmaker Noah Baumbach, penned the script. Rodrigo Prieto lit and lensed the ARRI Alexa 65 with Panavision lenses.
Initial Reaction:
So I took some notes while watching:
Can’t wait to get my hands on the script.
So, big picture, this film does some very interesting things. First, let’s talk about the institutions that are obviously at play here: the surface level if you will. Barbie itself is filled with a long and rich history which I’m not going to research and provide any statistics here: it’s a worldwide mega-corporation which has faced backlash in the past, but has navigated those murky waters to have a $145 million budget film made with two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. So, BIG CORPORATE is one of those surface level pieces, specifically Mattel in the film.
The Barbie website, 07.21.23.
Early on in the film, Barbie and Ken make a stop in Century City. Now, prior to my trip to LA, I wouldn’t have any clue about this place. But thanks to my friend Zena Dell Lowe, she told me this place is where the money is. Think, studio executive.
Google image search
So, alongside BIG CORPORATE we’re also talking BIG MONEY. Finance, Wall Street, American Psycho; all come to mind.
And we couldn’t and can’t ignore the age old face-off of man vs. woman: Barbie vs Ken. The big s word.
SEX
In all of its iterations and forms.
BIG CORPORATE, BIG MONEY, and SEX. That’s a good starting point.
OPPENHEIMER
Damn, what a film. God what an awful poster. Notes:
This film is about the experience of greatness. The exchange between Einstein and Oppenheimer is the pivotal moment of the film. I recorded this conversation as best as I could in the theater and then came home and found the ‘pirated’ version online so that I could capture it word for word.
Now, this is based on a book written about Oppenheimer’s life, a biography, so the structure of the film could be an autonomous product of Nolan himself, and that’s how I’m treating it. In other words, Nolan is responsible for the telling of the story in the film using information from the book. From what I can tell, this is the case, but I could be wrong.
Regardless, the structure of the entire narrative hinges around what is said in this conversation between Oppenheimer and Einstein. One that happens early on in the film. Strauss believes he said something to “sour Einstein” towards him but instead it’s this infinite piece of wisdom that slaps. You. In. The. Stomach.
Gotta see the movie to get the full effect of this 2 minutes.
The experience of greatness; not the price/cost of greatness. Everyone knows that greatness comes with a cost. It’s something that’s been repeated since I can remember, so that’s at least 30+ years. What this film does is provide the next level to that tired saying and provides EXPERIENCE.
All caps are intentional: Nolan provides both the noun AND the verb forms of the word. Coupled with the experience of watching it in a theater, this truly is a great example of one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time.
This poster is so much better.
Of all of Nolan’s films, this one is the most experimental since, Doodlebug. Experimental in terms of filmmaking: early shots of atoms, and waves, and ripples, super-tight focal planes (probably cm), overexposure, silence, framing and camera-movement. I can see now I’ll need to write an entirely different post about this film.
Alright. Initial winner of the box-office show down of 7.21?
I can’t give you one. I know who will win more Oscars this year. If there’s even a ceremony...
I can tell you that Barbie is very much feminine while Oppenheimer is very much masculine. No surprises there I don’t think.
Today marks day 80 of the strike. I’ve read that this weekend’s box-office will have an impact on negotiations.
I’ll leave you with a quote from both films:
“‘The real world isn’t what I thought it is.’ ‘Isn’t that marvelous?’” -Barbie
“‘Did you think that if you let them far and feather you, the world would forgive you? It won’t.’ ‘We’ll see’” -Oppenheimer
Indeed. We shall.
