Ah, that suspenseful, spine-tingling excitement, when you are in your auditorium seat all set (with cans and snacks) to watch the horror film everyone on Twitter had been making hype of lately... I am sure that you, my dear reader, know exactly what I mean; the anticipation of gratification stimulated by fellow tribe members.
Actor and director Zach Cregger has ended up with a well working team of cast members in Barbarian. First of all, Georgina Campbell in the role of lead protagonist Tess: I think her part is written with zero faults. Being an actress who has had predominantly a tv series career for the past 10 years, she simply walks into Barbarian project and – veni, vidi, vici – we have a new promising horror movie star. Just like that. Her acting in Barbarian reminded me of the meaning of Bruce Lee’s suggestion to strive and be “formless, shapeless like water” – Ms. Campbell flows rather than moves through sets, being aware of the flow created by fellow actors as well as that of situations and spaces she finds herself in. In my opinion, if you ever wanted to see an acting that carries with it the grace of Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies, Barbarian’s lead role is one such instance; a perfect convergence of personality, skill, background and script.
Georgina Campbell as Tess in Barbarian movie. Source © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Bill Skarsgård, who plays Keith, and who is mainly seen opposite the lead heroine, is a perfect, classy enough match for the latter with none of the feats of It; tactful, mindful guy who knows how to create a situation where a woman feels safe and open for a chat. The script is persuasive also in regards to this character; there is enough reason to have your suspicions and expect a good mystery here.
Bill Skarsgård as Keith in Barbarian. Source © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Alas, my dear reader, I hate to tell you that the rosy picture and thus the gratification isn’t what you might have thought it’s gonna be. Spoiler alert: Barbarian’s plot is non-linear; meaning, things don’t always develop in a chronological order and dynamic manner. This is the writer director’s choice that signals clearly: he is not out there to tell you a well flowing scary story that contains a narrative you are already familiar with. I recognize this may sound great yet I anticipate this aspect of Barbarian to be polarizing. As soon as we get to a certain door in the movie, it becomes a point of before and after. Ok, I believe its role as such is what it should be in a gothic scare, but, in my view, in Barbarian this aspect is a matter of taste – it either would strike the spectator as an excellent metaphor, which is apt for subsequent introduction to delights of misogynistic culture, or it would seem like a wrong turn, calling for a different kind of Act 1. I would have preferred for that door to have something more of a Gothika linearity behind it. Yet one cannot deny that the amount of effort and style in attempts to show how extreme a misogyny can get is extraordinary enough to create some haunting, disturbing memories. This intention is reinforced by having Richard Brake’s Frank doing some shopping and stalking in the film. Mr. Brake’s potential isn’t being made full use of though; it seems that the director has relied on sheer notoriety of the actor’s roles in movies like 31 and Mandy.
Justin Long as AJ and Georgina Campbell as Tess in Barbarian. Source © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
One thing Barbarian expects from you is to be in the loop, to be current in regards to certain social problems. You have to know in what way Airbnb sucks and how there are suburbs in Detroit for which there are no police units available. The film is a social commentary for sure, but its main and quite possibly the only flaw is that it has a bit too little concern about you as a spectator, and your questions regarding ”how”, while being good at leaving you with other kinds of food for thought.
YEah everyone is talking about it! I am going to watch it soon
!1UP
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I think I saw the movie last week and the story was very disjointed. It felt like a very pointless and unnecessary movie and I can't rate it in the horror category.
Barbarian hasn't got one singular timeline, that much is true, but I didn't see it as disjointed, so I'm not sure we are talking the same film here. I wonder what genre would you class it as?
You have received a 1UP from @gwajnberg!
@cine-curator, @vyb-curator, @pob-curator, @neoxag-curator, @pal-curator
And they will bring !PIZZA 🍕.
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