
A new perspective on old stories has been established in the film world, not least due to the target quota of 50% women in the director's chair. Anyone who still doesn't recognise it, the female gaze in film, will be served two great examples on the big screen this summer. Firstly, Greta Gerwig polishes up the image of the most loved and hated doll on a grand scale. Her "Barbie" is given a cunningly reflective inner life in addition to her pretty exterior. On the other hand, in "Past Lives", Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song adds a grown-up, but no less heartfelt version to the romance. To compensate, there are five new stories with Charlie Brooker's brilliant cynicism in "Black Mirror" on Netflix.
Barbara Millicent Roberts - Barbie, as she is known to her friends - loves shopping, loves going on holiday and loves meeting her friends on holiday to go shopping. Or is there perhaps more to life than that? Perhaps beyond Barbieland? With Ken in tow, Barbie sets off for the real world.
And nothing in little girls' bedrooms will ever be the same again. Thanks to Greta Gerwig and her leading actress Margot Robbie, Barbie can no longer just dress, undress and change her clothes, she can also think and crack some hearty jokes.
Greta Gerwig
Just acting was never the intention of the Californian, born in Sacramento in 1983. In fact, Greta Gerwig has had her fingers in the script since her second film ("Hannah Takes the Stairs", 2007). In the USA, this makes her the queen of the mumblecore film. In 2012, European cinema-goers found out what this meant when Gerwig lamented, discussed and ultimately de-escalated her way through a life crisis in "Frances Ha" based on her own knock-out script. The film is directed by her future partner Noah Baumbach. She also wrote the screenplay for "Barbie" with him.
Film genre: Comedy
Length: 114 minutes
Director: Greta Gerwig
With: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir
Age rating: 6+
Distributed by: Warner Bros. GmbH
Start: 20.7.2023
The fact that the audience favourite "Past Lives" came away empty-handed was one of the big surprises of this year's Berlinale. The story of two Korean childhood friends, Nora and Hae Sung, who meet again 20 years later in New York, was one of the most moving films this festival had to offer. And the most adult, because rarely in romantic comedies do you get to see such a literally mature and tragicomic performance as Greta Lee gives as Nora. A rather unusual migration story unwinds almost unnoticed.
Celine Song
The autobiographical traits in "Past Lives" are unmistakable: just like her protagonist Nora, Celine Song moved from Seoul to Canada with her parents at the age of 12. in 2014, she graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in playwriting, and just a few years later she was directing her own plays at New York's off-Broadway theatres. With "Past Lives", her debut as a feature film writer and director, she landed a major success at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023 and was even invited to compete at the Berlin Film Festival.
Genre: Satire
Length: approx. 310 minutes
Developed by: Charlie Brooker
With: Salma Hayek, Wunmi Mosaku, Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara
Age rating: 12+
Since: 15.6.2023 on Netflix
When the first three short films in the "Black Mirror" series flickered across the screens in 2011, predicting a very bleak digital future for British and later continental audiences, satirist Charlie Brooker was only known to a dedicated fan base of jet-black humour. 12 years and a few prophecies (Brexit, Trump, a flying change of prime minister) later, "Black Mirror" is entering its sixth season and Brooker's scripts are as evil and dystopian as ever. Themes such as AI, involuntary self-dramatisation and body swapping have been elaborately staged in five episodes with a huge cast of stars.
Genre: Satire
Length: approx. 310 minutes
Developed by: Charlie Brooker
With: Salma Hayek, Wunmi Mosaku, Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara
Age rating: 12+
Since: 15.6.2023 on Netflix
The player directs nothing less than the entire human race in "Humanity", in the guise of a Japanese Shiba dog. The aim on each level is to guide the masses of people to a task that can only be completed by joining forces with as few casualties as possible. Reality and the laws of nature play less of a role here. Rather, it is important to find your own rhythm and to recognise and skilfully use the means provided by the developers of tha*.
Type: Jump'n'Run Puzzle
Developer: tha* LTD.
Available for: PlayStation 4/5, Windows
Address: humanity.game