Ken and Robin Consume Media: Barbie, Renfield, and More Noir City
September 5th, 2023 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
Barbie (Film, US, Greta Gerwig, 2023) Weird feelings prompt Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) to journey to the troubling real world, where tagalong Ken (Ryan Gosling) learns about the patriarchy and resolves to bring it back to the innocent Eden that is Barbie Land. Surreal essay film with jokes and musical numbers uses women’s ambivalence toward the iconic doll as a synecdoche for their ambivalence toward gender expectations. Ironically given the theme, the juiciest, most layered part goes to Gosling, who makes a full feast out of it—RDL
Blood on the Moon (Film, US, Robert Wise, 1948) Drifter Jim Garry (Robert Mitchum) rides into a conflict between rancher John Lufton (Tom Tully) and homesteaders backed by his friend Tate (Robert Preston) but uncovers chicanery, while finding love in Lufton’s daughter Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes). Wise keeps an atmosphere of uncertainty and menace brewing throughout the film, even as the plot takes its own sweet time getting to the final gunfight. Mitchum is, of course, magnificent, as is homesteader Walter Brennan. –KH
Chicago Deadline (Film, US, Lewis Allen, 1949) Reporter Ed Adams (Alan Ladd) discovers a dead beauty (Donna Reed) and becomes obsessed with tracking her history, uncovering unsavory secrets along the way. Crackling dialogue, ample Chicago shooting locations, and another strong weasel turn from Berry Kroeger as a gangster make this film a delight, though never a Laura. —KH
Dark Archives: a Librarian’s Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (Nonfiction, Megan Rosenbloom, 2020) In her role as a member of the Anthropodermic Book Project, the author visits special collections throughout the US and Europe gathering samples for the DNA test that separates authenticity from legend for books reputed to be bound in tanned human remains. Contrary to horror tropes, the most prolific makers of these troubling artifacts turn out not to be blasphemous occultists, but 19th century men of science, And obviously a fictionalized ABP is your next group of player characters.—RDL
Fanny: The Right to Rock (Film, Canada, Bobbi Jo Hart, 2021) Now in their sixties, the core members of Fanny, a hard-rocking early 70s band with an all-woman, Filipina, queer roster that broke barriers without ever quite breaking through, reunite to record a new album. Arts profile documentary loves and celebrates its subjects as they look ruefully at the past and hopefully to the future.—RDL
Larceny (Film, US, George Sherman, 1948) Con men Rick (John Payne) and Silky (Dan Duryea) plan to grift a war widow (Joan Caulfield) out of the money for a no-fooling teen center and war memorial but Silky’s girl (Shelley Winters) has her own angle. A beautiful con and two beautiful dames plus Dan Duryea at his oiliest and most menacing keep John Payne hopping on the edge of disaster throughout, propelling the film zippily through a smorgasbord of wonderful character moments. –KH
Young and Innocent (Film, US, Alfred Hitchcock, 1937) Straight-laced police inspector’s daughter (Nova Pilbeam) breaks all the rules to help a handsome young man (Derrick de Marney) prove it wasn’t him who murdered an older actress. This early example of Hitchock’s favorite innocent fugitive formula features such quintessentially English obstacles as people posing as members of other social classes and the need to extricate oneself from an awkward social obligation.—RDL
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Moonrise (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1948) Tormented by his father’s hanging for murder, borderline Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark) both lashes out and flees within himself in a performance that tries to entirely internalize the noir transgression-and-pursuit (and doesn’t entirely land). Gail Russell is luminous as the girl who almost involuntarily sees the wounded boy inside, but Borzage indulges his silent-film instincts for big drama at the final expense of tension and tone. –KH
Renfield (Film, US, Chris McKay, 2023) Seeking to break his codependent relationship with his master (Nicolas Cage) Dracula’s longtime familiar (Nicholas Hoult) teams up with an incorruptible New Orleans cop (Awkwafina) bent on taking down the crime family that killed her dad. Juicy performances and a gleefully over-the-top vibe almost rescue a script that fails to find its footing after rushing the setup and generally appears to have come out the worse for wear from the development process.—RDL
