"WHAT'S WITH NOAH BAUMBACH'S 'BARBIE' "

      This past summer's lineup of movies presented an interesting challenge, especially for two of them. Thus, amid the myriad of fantasy, adventure and horror offerings ( like  " Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny," "Spider - Man: Across the Spider-Verse," and "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning" ), the two most popular films essentially defied such classifications: BARBIE AND OPPENHEIMER. ( However, we can't deny that, obviously, "Barbie " could still be described stylistically as a fantasy ). Despite stylistic matters, this critic also wondered how these movies' distributors had the guts to even think about releasing both of them at the same time.

    Yet various considerations aside, there remains the fact that "Barbie" is very different from any of writer Baumbach's other works.   And therein lies an important conclusion: we discover that Baumbach is an innovative, imaginative and inspiring filmmaker. 

    At least when considering contemporary examples of American cinema that characterize our culture. For instance, there are always specific decades mirroring particular political movements,  like motion pictures about Civil Rights and Feminism during the 1960s and 1970. Yet Baumbach's movies go beyond the usual perimeters: they present idiosyncratic people who inhabit our space and show life lessons which reside in our soul. And while we might label Baumbach's focus as "personal" and often "autobiographical," his themes seem broader then that, allowing viewers to wonder how close the plot comes to real life. Contrarily, Professor Howard Suber suggests in his recent TCM documentary series "The Power of Film," that the audience has always liked film because it reveals life as we would like it to be.  Baumbach would certainly agree with the former concept.

     What then do Baumbach's movies proclaim about life in urban America, particularly among educated, cultured people where race or gender play no particular part? First, the family predominates: a family that is dysfunctional and will most likely remain so.  Such a description is not necessarily a negative one in Baumbach's worldview, however. His characters are human, like everyone else, acceptable and also intolerable. And everything in - between. Often humorous along the way. Such a family can be cruel to one another sometimes and maybe a bit violent other times. "C'est la vie."

     Baumbach's characters are realistic as well, mostly looking like people we could actually know. They do not live in a Hollywood universe composed of gorgeous stars: Laura Linney ("The Squid and the Whale"),  Scarlett Johansson ( "Marriage Story" ), and Adam Driver (" Marriage Story" ) all play their parts without makeup.

     While we could characterize Baumbach's works as character-driven, they are also dialogue-driven, too, a distinction that is usually reserved for Quentin Tarantino. It is a technique that often replaces other cinematic devices which usually tell the story ( like setting, visual effects, editing ).

     What we particularly remember about Baumbach's films, however, is his "bottom line."  Family members do not go their separate ways. At least not forever.  Although divorced, the parents hold together in "Marriage Story" as do the siblings and their father do in "The Meyerowitz Stories. " The friends in "Greenberg" and "Frances Ha" follow a similar path.

      True, Noah Baumbach's movies may be wacky, but the family prevails. On second thought, "Barbie" is not so different.