Gerwig’s Barbie Trailer + Curatorial Notes On Film Lists & Lars * Trier’s The Kingdom I-III NYC Screenings
And so what hath Gerwig and Baumbach come down from the mountain with? Herewith, the Barbie teaser-trailer — as to what it all means? Your guess is as good as mine (see notes); one hopes for the very best possible subversion.
Referencing Kubrick’s oft-referenced quantum evolutionary leap by way of tool-discovery, Gerwig’s Zarathustra-volta of revelation is not in the service of bashing the dreaded other’s head in (which really impressed the ladies in those days), but rather, in the liberation of young, identity-seeking minds who, by way of a most un-monolithic totem, find theirselves looking to individualist womanhood, rather than cloned infantilism — and arguably also (another, perennial) reclamation of the Barbie brand — albeit, on behalf of same, thus giving a double-meaning to, and making tricky terrain of, the term “license” — amidst barbed debates that have existed since our earliest caveperson days when, in a violent, work-or-starve world*, the ladies of the clan — just like the men (and every other evolving personhood) — were figuring out how to impress, while learning to be theirselves, before feminism was even a word, though to be certain, it was grunted about in the earliest battles of the sexes. (*It’s still a violent work-or-starve world). Suffice it to say, it will be interesting to see what a 21st Century (whatsoever the setting for this as-yet unrated) Barbie movie looks like. Here’s hoping.
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By way of a short endnote, while I generally ignore lists (which means I don’t admit to reading them) I found the selection of Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (kudos to MOMA for their retro from a few years ago) as the, well, number one film of all-time in a recent poll (’til the next such survey), interesting. I haven’t seen the entire list, but I think it’s nice that the late Akerman — who, some considered in the press as having been, in a small way, crucified by same — is now resurrected to #1.
I love Akerman, and I love Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, and when looking at and endeavoring to understand the mission of voting for certain films amidst a given micro-epoch, I also wonder, by way of my own moronic two cents, if it would be interesting to update Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’s formal profile of a terrifying determinism which climaxes in a revenge-fantasy murder, by including Lars *Trier’s Nymphomaniac (Director’s Cut) by way of adding unapologetic, pure, pre-, post-, do-me-, 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-wave, whatever wave, feminism to the list. (* I removed the “Von” — which was a fiction added by the then-young director to establish a rep — from the director’s name; Lars, you never needed anything other than your work to prove your merit).
In considering Nymphomaniac (Director’s Cut) in relation to Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, I am not pitting the two works against each other — absolutely not; rather, I am saying that the canonical lens which silos essential humanist subjects might also enhance its vision, panning from the necessary historical inclusion of institutional victimhood and tragedy, to also including a chronicle of messy, hard-earned self-autonomy…with both arriving at the same exact ending (spoiler alert?), yet certainly not the same conclusion.
Simply put, to my feeble mind (and to use very tired phrasing), Nymphomaniac (Director’s Cut) is easily one of the greatest films of either decade or either century on either side of the millennium. And I gotta say, as someone who came of age in the last of the revival houses (even doing time working at the SoHo Thalia revival house, where the popcorn was always fresh…outta the bag) I was, and remain shocked, that not one NYC institution showed it — it was Comic Con (Respect!) that premiered the film, delivering for this New Yorker one of the most powerful cinematic experiences of a humble, earnest life, in search of meaning…here’s to the movies.
More Barbie info can be found HERE. Nymphomaniac is currently streaming on HULU . Also, Lars * Trier’s “The Kingdom: Exodus”, part three in his series, along with parts one and two, is on the big screen at my favorite movie house, Walter Reade Theater — info and ticketing HERE, and it’s also streaming on MUBI. Past notes on MOMA’s Akerman retro are HERE. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.
RIP Chantal Akerman, and thank you for your voice, visions and enduring contributions — the family you wrote home to are all very proud.