“Barbie” is almost a musical, almost a fairy tale, almost a cartoon, almost a parody, almost a feminist manifesto. But above all, it’s a smart business operation that generates billions in revenue worldwide, to the delight of Mattel, the company that created it. It’s fun to track down all the movie and music quotes that director Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her life partner Noah Baumbach, sprinkled throughout the film. The most obvious ones are those taken from The Truman Show, The Matrix, Westworld, Toy Stories, Rocky and Top Gun.
Review by BATTISTA GARDONCINI *
I wonder how many of the young people who flock to movie theaters showing Barbie know this? The first scene of the film is a faithful remake of the first scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey.indisputable masterpiece of the great Stanley Kubrick. Instead of monkeys there are little girls who are forced to play mothers with old and very sad dolls, and in the place of a mysterious monolith that teaches monkeys to use a bone as a club – statuesque Margot Robbie as Barbie, who helps girls free themselves from slavery by destroying traditional dolls.. And all this to the same memorable soundtrack: “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss (see video at the bottom of the page).
“Barbie” is almost a musical, almost a fairy tale, almost a cartoon, almost a parody, almost a feminist manifesto. But above all, it is a smart commercial operation that shreds made billions worldwide, to Mattel’s delightwho produced it. Personally, after the initial interest, I found the last part a little boring, but that probably depends on my age. Instead It was fun to hunt down all the movie and music quotes. that the director Greta Gerwigalso scriptwriter along with his life partner Noah Baumbach, he poured throughout the film. Those taken from “The Truman Show”, “The Matrix”, “Westworld”, “Toy Story”, “Rocky” and “Top Gun” are the most obvious, but there are many others. And the idea of including characters inspired by models that were taken off the market because they weren’t successful among the Barbies and Kens who populate the magical world of dolls is also a great one.
Margot Robbie has what it takes to play a real-life Barbie.stereotype of the ideal woman. Ryan Gosling as Ken is superb in his transformation from sexless doll to super macho man. complete with white fur a la “Rocky”. The photograph is magnificent, deliberately dreamlike, and the color pink predominates in it. © PLAYBACK PROHIBITED
The author runs Oltreilponte.org.