frandroid

We saw the Barbie movie! What a confused mess. My own mixed thoughts, in bullet point* form. (No spoilers)

- It was full of clever tricks and fun jokes didn't really get anywhere.
- I don't understand why Ryan Gosling is being touted for an Oscar
- Gosling's plasticky abs were disturbing, even in the context of him being Ken
- I love America Ferrera's voice, and I thought her character was the most interesting out of the whole thing
- The Weird Barbie business was not as funny as they thought it was, and was a waste of Kate McKinnon
- The line about the Barbies being infected with patriarchy because they hadn't been exposed before, like how indigenous people were infected by European diseases, that was clever, but once again, huh?
- The whole film was made with practical effects, blowing their budget, and it showed. No CGI here. That was refreshing. All the set decoration and design people should be winning Oscars.

I feel that the film was trying to surf the border between camp and not-camp? I think they kept surfing that line well throughout the film, but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that? I hate camp, so I'm glad they didn't go all-in.

Anyway. What a liberal mess.

*: (How do I render Edward Tufte's bullet-point graphic as a 100x100 user pic?)

I watched a really great film on Saturday night, Past Lives, which was strangely echoing in my own life.

( Slight spoilers, similar to that seen in other reviews )

Ted Yoo is phenomenal as Hae Sung. I have had quite a few, loooong unrequited crushes in my life, and he really expresses the internal turmoil. (I also expanded my screen crush on Greta Lee, who was featured in Natasha Lyonne's Russian Doll before.) The way Celine Song (director and writer, who based the story on her own life) has set the awkwardness of some of the conversations almost materialises these emotions. This was superbly written, acted and directed. Definitely don't miss it. I torrented it, but it turns out it's still in cinemas. It's a great date film.