Like you, I adore Gerwig—but it’s her earlier work that I connect with. Lady Bird was amazing, and I hoped so badly for a director who made stories that felt like that…
I felt like I could see flashes of the mumblecore Gerwig in Barbie. The sequences of families down without dialogue, in soft warm light—that was almost the vibe. Except those were montages, not particularly central to the movie, and what was essential to the main plot was a whole lot of Do Not Want. Like you, I hated the patriarchy storyline, and it made me strongly dislike Ken! His character flipped over into unlikeable dick for me from that moment, which is a shame for one of the leads (who still gets a sympathetic treatment in the end).
But, to be honest, I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie if my partner hadn’t wanted to, and so I admit I’m coming at this as someone who thought they would dislike it and then did. I just hope we get another Lady Bird out of Gerwig someday.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-07-25 06:56 pm (UTC)I felt like I could see flashes of the mumblecore Gerwig in Barbie. The sequences of families down without dialogue, in soft warm light—that was almost the vibe. Except those were montages, not particularly central to the movie, and what was essential to the main plot was a whole lot of Do Not Want. Like you, I hated the patriarchy storyline, and it made me strongly dislike Ken! His character flipped over into unlikeable dick for me from that moment, which is a shame for one of the leads (who still gets a sympathetic treatment in the end).
But, to be honest, I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie if my partner hadn’t wanted to, and so I admit I’m coming at this as someone who thought they would dislike it and then did. I just hope we get another Lady Bird out of Gerwig someday.