On Barbie:
Watched this right after Oppenheimer so I was already in an emotional state. I wasn’t expecting this movie to be so profound & self-conscious, including quotes like “i only exist within the warmth of your gaze” & the theme of self-fulfilment & learning to live for yourself. Everybody undergoes a tumultuous development, with the ghost of Ruth Handler herself handing off her creation to be anything, which is what Barbie is all about. I almost tore up watching Barbie become human, and there’s also a great, crucial balance to this movie, and that’s Gerwig’s masterful balance of comedy & satire with serious issues she wants to analyse. It’s a pretty surface-level analysis, but I’m not expecting Barbie to be this summer’s epic feminist. It’s a reversed Bechdel Test failing, sure, but the movie has more egalitarian values rather than a patriarchy-annihilation manifesto.
On Oppenheimer:
This movie was just absolutely gut-wrenching. I wasn’t bothered enough to drive hours up to Leicester Square to see the 70mm version, but I would be shocked if Nolan’s original vision would’ve been able to yank my breath away any more than what was already done. The delayed literal shockwaves that seem to erupt when Oppenheimer is in severe crisis, the seamless transitions between the beautifully filmed 3 storylines, the brilliantly-executed themes… just stunning. The way Nolan’s team managed to deliver such a painstaking perspective on Oppenheimer’s internal battle to distance himself from the impact of his creation & the people it irreversibly warped was incredible. Some people have been criticising this movie for focusing on what seems to be just one white guy without any regard for the victims, and for that, I recommend you watch films made by them, like _Barefoot Gen_ which actually deal with the war itself. I was actually fine watching this & then Barbie, but it’s definitely changed me forever in some way.
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