Lazarus (2023)
Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop)
Action sequences directed by Chad Stahleski (John Wick)
Today I saw the Barbie Movie after seeing multiple advertisements marketing it as “hot pink existentialism,” and I think it’s the best film I’ll ever see this year. If you are a woman, please see this movie. If you are a mother, please see this movie. If you have anxiety or depression, please see this movie. If you are autistic, please see this movie. If you have doubts about life in general, please see this movie. The movie currently has a reputation of being an edgy children’s film, but I assure you, it’s the most adult film I’ve ever watched.
I initially saw this film while going through a bout of anxiety. I was fine that morning when I booked the tickets, but an hour and half before I went I was having doubts about what I was doing in my free time. I was wondering if I should quit something because it is hard, even if it once brought me joy. I sat there, holding myself, as the movie began and in the first ten minutes I knew it would make me cry. I ended up shedding a few tears throughout, but when they hit the ending, I was bawling. And I had crying fits on the drive back home. I had gone with my eleven year old sister who showed interest in seeing it, and she was confused about my reaction. She just wasn’t experienced enough to understand the underlying themes and messages about the film.
Beyond the Barbie brand, the hot pink, the nice outfits, and the hilarious “two worlds cross” storyline, Barbie is a film about life. It is similar to Pixar’s Soul, in that sense. There are plenty of laughs, but it hits you with the hard “why are we here” question. Barbie is presented in the beginning to live a perfect life, and I do mean perfect, except when one morning existentialism comes knocking on her plastic skull. She has thoughts of death and panics when she discovers the start of cellulite, fearing her loss of beauty. She is then tasked to go find the little girl who is playing with her in the real world, the one that’s putting these thoughts in her head. But she is told that it’s not entirely the little girl’s fault, Barbie is responsible as well, though she denies it.
blindmagdalena