Sarah Greenwood: From Narnia to Barbieland

by Cláudio Alves

Gerwig and Greenwood discuss BARBIE in a behind-the-scenes video. | © Warner Bros.Last Sunday, Sarah Greenwood officially became the most nominated production designer without an Oscar, breaking her tie with Nathan Crowley for the "Diane Warren" distinction. This year, she was nominated for Barbie, another triumph among many in a career spanning 1980s BBC miniseries to 21st-century Hollywood blockbusters.

Though many of her best works rely on a sense of material realism, the Greta Gerwig feature aimed for a sort of "authentic artificiality" where denying reality is a sort of reality into itself. For Greenwood, midcentury Palm Springs was a source of real-world inspiration to combine with Mattel's history, adding a sense of internal logic to Barbieland. Moreover, the aesthetic was sustained by old-school techniques like hand-painted backdrops and a practical fake sea, visible wires holding everything together in the loopy transitions between worlds. She used scale as a tool for wonderment, took cues from Gene Kelly musicals, and delivered a screen dream in fifty shades of fuchsia. Indeed, her team used so much pink paint that they caused an international shortage…

Click to read more ...

Best Picture in Black-and-White: 2023 Edition

by Cláudio Alves

Re-releasing films in black-and-white, whether in theaters or through physical media, has become something of a trend. This year, Godzilla Minus One prompted a new edit with color stripped away, revealing a new way to consider its post-war twist on the kaiju mythos. I understand why audiences and filmmakers get carried away by these experiments. After all, for the past few seasons, it's a The Film Experience tradition to re-think the year's Best Picture Oscar nominees in silvery monochrome, pondering what each flick would look like transformed.

This is an exercise that can reveal qualities in composition and lighting, as well as provide a reference for the role of color in visual storytelling. Sometimes, its absence makes no difference. In other cases, a movie can't work in grayscale… 

Click to read more ...

Split Decision: "Barbie"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's the last discussion, between Mark Brinkerhoff and Nick Taylor on Barbie…

NICK: Hi Mark! We’re coming to you live and in color - but mainly in pink - from Barbieland for today’s split decision. This is the only one of these where I get to be on the side of positivity, so if the runoff of good vibes is Too Much, forgive me. Either way, I’m very excited to talk to you about Barbie. I’m not sure this makes it into my top 10 for the year, but it’s almost certainly the 2023 film I’ve watched the most, and I think it’s a total delight with as much on its mind as any of Greta Gerwig’s previous films, albeit in a very different key from Lady Bird and Little Women. I’d say more, but I don’t want to start our chat with a three-paragraph monologue. So, Mark, what’s keeping you from feeling the Kenergy?...

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Margot Robbie in "Barbie"

by Cláudio Alves

Everybody complains about comedic performances not getting their due on awards season. But of course, the instant such work becomes a serious contender, the knives come out. These achievements are generally dismissed, as if straight drama was inherently superior to broad comedy. I'm not accusing anyone in particular, but it is a phenomenon that can be felt across cinephilia, especially when it involves a movie like Barbie, which tapped into the zeitgeist and somehow became one of the year's defining movies. I thought about writing on the reaction to Ferrera's Best Supporting Actress nomination or how the tides have turned on Gosling as the season unfolded. Yet, Robbie was perfect for the Almost There Series, so here we are. 

With the 96th Academy Awards mere days away, the dust should have settled after the collective psychosis that followed the movie's "snubs" in Best Director and Best Actress. At least, I hope cool heads prevail as I dive into Margot Robbie's portrayal of Stereotypical Barbie…

Click to read more ...

2023 Team Experience Awards - WINNERS

by Christopher James

Poor Things won the hearts of The Film Experience team, but it wasn't the only film the team loved this year.

The Film Experience team has spoken. Our nomination leader - Poor Things - won Best Picture from the group. However, it was not a sweep for Yorgos Lanthimos' ambitious film. The only other category Poor Things won was Best Costume Design. Instead, the team decided to spread the wealth across all categories, rewarding a total of 16 films. The most wins racked up by any film this year was three, which both Anatomy of a Fall and Barbie achieved. 

See what won each of the categories after the jump...

Click to read more ...