Last week two films opened in cinemas and you literally couldn’t escape the discourse about them both, AS every newspaper, radio show and podcast were discussing Barbie from Greta Gerwig and Oppenheimer from Christopher Nolan. I heard from the Palás cinema in Galway that it was their biggest weekend in terms of tickets sales since they opened.
The two films couldn’t be more different films but what they have in common is, they seem to have really resonated with audiences. Firstly a lack of any Marvel super heroes (which I think people have grown tired of ) but also they are catering to audiences that may feel underserved from Hollywood in the last few years. So great they are making money but how are the films?
I’m delighted to say I absolutely loved both, I went to Oppenheimer on a midnight screen and Barbie the following day at lunch. The movies were great but the energy in the cinema really made it special— Barbie in particular full of people wearing pink and all ages having a great time, including a group of teenage girls who somehow already knew all the words to the song that played over the end credits and sung along.
Oppenheimer was obviously a different vibe but it was equally enjoyable. It would be a disservice to say director Christopher Nolan has a small cult-like fan base because he is so popular; it’s more like a mass religious experience when he has a movie out. Nolan fans are as rabid as any Star Wars or Marvel fan.
First Oppenheimer, it is about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who lead the Manhattan Project which was the creation of the atomic bomb. The film covers three periods of his life, the creation of the bomb, an inquiry into his security clearance after it, and a hearing about one of his superiors several years later when the scientific community rose up to defend Oppenheimer.
I loved this movie and the further I get from it the more I like it. I’ve planned another screening next week. From an Irish standpoint it’s great that Cillian Murphy is by far the main performer and should finally win himself an Oscar. The rest of the cast are incredible, Nolan’s reputation is so good that he gets Oscar winners and A-listers to drop in and read four or five lines of dialogue.
The other stand outs for me were Emily Blunt and Ben Safdie. Oppenheimer reminded me of Oliver Stone's JFK from 1993. It would actually pair very well with it as a six and a half hour double bill. Nolan uses the hearings and investigations as a narrative device to go back over Oppenheimer's life, just like Stone used the Warren Commission to go into the Kennedy assassination.
Robert Oppenheimer is a deeply flawed, and maybe, naive man but it is clear he was treated very badly by the US government. The film is basically a stealth origin story for the military industrial complex (the chief boogey man in Stones' film ). The other film it reminded me of was Myazaki's Grave of The Fireflies, a beautiful Japanese film about an aviator whose life dream is to invent planes and is given the opportunity by the Japanese government; but is then devastated to see them used for war.
It’s not flawless though, it’s slightly too long and some of the great cast are underserved, particularly the female characters. Like with all Nolan movies, the films jumps around timelines and it can be hard to keep up at first. I actually admire how much respect Nolan has for his audience, there is no handholding here.
So on to the second film I saw last Friday, Barbie. Directed by one of my other faves, Greta Gerwig, who brought us Little Women and Lady Bird, two films I loved. Produced by and starring Margot Robbie, who was clearly born to play this role. It initially wasn’t a project I was excited about, I thought it was a shame an interesting director like Gerwig was working with an existing IP like Barbie, but I’m so happy I was wrong.
I even thought the trailer looked bad, so shows what I know. This is a very fresh and interesting take on a product that I had thought had outlived its cultural relevance.The plot is simple, Barbie after having, a slight mental breakdown, (we’ve all been there ) leaves Barbieland travels to the real world with Ken. While there she decides she is going to help a depressed older Barbie fan.
Ken, after seeing the glory of the patriarchy, decides to bring it back to Barbie Land. When Barbie eventually returns he’s ruined everything and she needs to get it back to normal.There are some missteps, I didn’t think the Will Ferrel subplot worked very well, but that was probably down to editing. I also think the human characters Barbie tries to help dont add much.
It’s a shame the Will Ferrell plot didn’t work as the Barbie film reminded me a lot of Ferrell's film Elf. Barbie has got great jokes aimed at all generations along with some brilliant musical numbers and it’s the most fun and good vibes I’ve felt in a cinema since Paddington 2.
The thing about these kind of movies, especially when you see it back to back with something as brilliant and serious as Oppenheimer, is I feel you should weigh a film against the expectations and goals its sets for itself.
Well Barbie sets them quite high and really delivers.
So what a weekend in the cinema, and the wash out July we are experiencing I couldn’t recommend both films more. Between these two films, there is genuinely something for everyone.
