»Barbenheimer«: We have to learn again to think big in the cinema. And these two films could help us with that – Cinema Moralia, Diary of a Moviegoer, Episode 300
By Ruediger Suchsland
»Because we‘re all going to die.«
– Greta Gerwig»I want to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer, I‘ll see them opening weekend. Friday I‘ll see Oppenheimer first and then Barbie on Saturday. I grew up seeing movies on the big screen. That‘s how I make them, and I like that experience; it‘s immersive, and to have that as a community and an industry, it‘s important.«
– Tom Cruise»…for if cinema were not first and foremost film, it wouldn‘t exist.«
Jean Luc Godard
Cinema is the most beautiful medium. We, who accompany and comment on this medium as observers, have to talk and write about so much that actually has nothing to do with cinema that we sometimes forget the essentials.
This essential isn’t some film festival in need of cutbacks. It’s not a film production company that’s going bankrupt, even though we’re very sorry about that. Rather, the directors who are currently working with this company hoped for them, and whose film is now in jeopardy.
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The essentials are also non-marginal films, made for limited filter bubbles and clear echo chambers, made only for the art gallery, which don’t interest anyone beyond a film festival, made for critics or for other filmmakers. Such groups are sometimes interesting for us, but uninteresting for the cinema.
The essence is not even the cinema itself, this place. Because it’s actually about an experience that is perhaps easier to have in the dark room of the cinema, but can also be had as a television viewer or in front of your computer. It’s primarily about movies, not places.
The essential are the films that unite the most contradictory groups of audiences and that create a space in which they merge disparate groups for those hour and a half, two or sometimes three hours that a film lasts. Only when that happens does cinema become society.
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There has been a lot of concern about cinema in recent years. And you keep going. It appears that the impacts are getting closer, although streamers are faring even worse than film distributors and broadcasters at the moment. Nevertheless, Tom Cruise and his film »Top Gun Maverick« were called the saviors of cinema last year. And yet one believes that the rescue of the cinema is necessary again these weeks.
In the next two weeks, the fate of the cinema could be decided in this reading. Because tomorrow starts with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 one of the big blockbusters of this summer. He has to lay the foundation. Next week there will be two films that couldn’t be more different and in their differences you can actually find out more about where the journey in the future of cinema will go. Both films have plenty of potential for audience and cult following, yet aren’t natural box-office hits.
We’re talking about Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan.
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We have to learn again to think big in the cinema. And these two films could help us with that. Last week David Steinitz in the »Süddeutsche Zeitung« Interviewed Imax boss Rich Gelfond, who operates more than 1800 cinemas in almost 90 countries. So the man has a certain overview. The message from the cinema maker was optimistic: “We had our best year so far in 2019, just before the pandemic. But we should crack the sales from back then this year. After the pandemic, you don’t want to sit on the couch anymore. People want to experience something. But while the ticket prices for concerts and sporting events, for example, have risen sharply, a visit to the cinema is still easy to finance with us.«
Films that had a theatrical release performed much better online than films that did not have a theatrical release.
But the message was also very clear: the crisis is not about the cinema and watching films, but about film production. He wants »big« films with powerful images. »Premium Experiences«.
The viewer’s cinema experience should be »as immersive as possible«, huge screens, superduper sound systems and specially designed cameras. Christopher Nolan is one of the biggest Imax fans, a despiser of the 3D hype, who shot his last films with Imax cameras. They are the “gold standard”.
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All right, and now these films. I don’t really know what to think of Barbie. Can you imagine the movie? If not, then maybe that speaks for the film. On Oppenheimer I’ve been looking forward to it for months, at least since I saw the first trailer.
“Counterprogramming” is the technical term for the intentional planning of two film releases on the same day, which are aimed at supposedly very different target groups. That already existed in Hollywood in 2008. That’s when Mamma Mia! and The Dark Knight on the same weekend.
But the best trailers are the ones that are now appearing »Barbenheimer«-Film.
While there’s a lot of irony here, there’s a genuine enthusiasm for both films that fuels anticipation – so much so that »Barbenheimer« has become an offline phenomenon. Nolan fans, Barbie fans, and movie buffs alike have made the films’ opening weekend an excuse for an utterly unlikely double feature – quite impressive considering Oppenheimer is a darkly hued three-hour history lesson on the man partly responsible for Hiroshima during Barbie seems to be a dizzying, bubbly sugar rush. Nevertheless, the fans are so enthusiastic that the hype about “Barbenheimer” is growing. Gerwig and her leading lady Margot Robbie are starring and have their tickets to Oppenheimer flaunted across the networks, and also features Cillian Murphy (who plays Oppenheimer).
There are now passionate debates about the order in which the films should be seen. For some, “Oppenbarbie” means see Oppenheimer first, while “Barbieheimer” means see Barbie first.
Da liest man dann Dinge wie: »The schedule needs to be black coffee and a cigarette oppenheimer around 11 (its 3 hours) mimosas and brunch barbie around 6/7 dinner, drinks, club,« oder »›Barbieheimer? Oh yeah, I’m there. I have it all planned out. First, I’m seeing Barbie, then Oppenheimer, then Barbie AGAIN if I’m sad from Oppenheimer‹.«
Memes, jokes and fan articles abound, »Barbenheimer« shirts, Internet images of pink mushroom clouds, pictures of Margot Robbie’s Barbie kissing Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer are ubiquitous. The color combinations of pink and black together have become a visual shortcut
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At least one other film is already spreading similar anticipation, at least for me: Napoleon.
Hype and cult and subjectivism and irrational enthusiasm and anticipation like a child looking forward to Christmas – that’s what cinema really is.
2023-07-12 22:13:02
#Cinema #Moralia #cinema #is..
