Big-budget blockbuster movies can be tough to imbue with personality. When there’s so much expectation, hype, and, of course, money at play, a lot can go sideways. But, a great director finds a way to deliver a movie that serves the purpose of entertaining the audience while also putting their own stamp on the material. After all, if you’re going to be doing this massive IP-driven project, why not leave some of yourself in there for good measure. There were tales of rag-tag teams coming together this year. Other stories focused on singular struggles against forgotten enemies. Even more broadly, some movies found themselves arguing against the bleakness of existence itself.
One thing runs through all the most popular movies from this year, a personal connection to the images, sounds, and performances in front of the viewer. The director is the through line that connects an audience to a film. (Well, maybe it’s the projector itself? But, you get it!) Here at ComicBook.com, our team meets to honor the best in entertainment. When it comes to movies this year, we were tasked with crowning a director that stood above the rest. It would be hard to argue against this filmmaker for the top prize this year.
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And the winner of the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Director is…
Greta Gerwig for Barbie!
There was no shortage of hype on Barbie as that magnificent cast kept growing. Also curious in the months leading up to the big premiere was what kind of movie Barbie would end up being. Greta Gerwig and her writing partner Noah Baumbach kept their cards super close to the vest and shocked the world when the trailer finally debuted.
Barbie ended up being a movie about Mattel’s iconic doll, a meditation on 21st century womanhood, a kindhearted critique of toxic masculinity, a rousing celebration of classic movie musicals, the number one halloween costume of 2023, the soundtrack of the summer, and maybe the one movie that ended up saving the cinema for the year as well.
Barbie Rose To The Occasion
That’s a lot of weight for one movie and one director to carry. But, somehow, Gerwig managed to make it all work. Yes, Margot Robbie is operating at a high level here. Sure, Ryan Gosling became the Internet’s summer boyfriend. Michael Cera reminded us how tremendous he can be as Allen. Kate McKinnon’s weird Barbie sparked a mini Birkenstock boom; however, Gerwig’s desire to take a big swing here is what really makes all of this work.
When adapting a property like Barbie, there’s just too many roads to travel. So, she ended up using that universality to her benefit. If Barbie is everything now, what does that mean for people who don’t fit into the “Stereotypical Barbie” mold? Dear lord, what does that mean for Ken? All of these questions end up being addressed a bit in the film. If a woman who literally looks like she was born to be cast in this movie can’t live up to the standards set upon her by outside forces, what chance do any of us really have?
Gerwig’s Relatable Storytelling Is the key to Barbie
That kind of universal message seemed to really resonate with audiences to the tune of more than $1 billion at the box office. However, that kind of wildfire success was not a sure thing. Weird Internet marketing happenstance like Barbenheimer helps a little bit. But, more important for Barbie‘s success was Gerwig’s willingness to test the waters when dealign with a corporation the size of Mattel.
Can you imagine walking into this high-powered office building and delivering *this* script to waiting executives whose lives revolve around taking as little risk as possible. Telling them, “Hey, I’m going to take your beloved property showcase and give our heroine an existential crisis… Also, I’m going to take her lifelong boyfriend and make him into an antagonist that got drawn into the light of weird men’s podcasts like a moth to a flame? That sound good? I’ll report back.”
The fact that Barbie even got made is something of a small miracle. Gerwig also deserves a ton of credit for insisting on the kind of tactile details that made the original dolls so popular in the first place. This level of practical set design and production detail is something that film Twitter poured over for most of the summer. Every day someone was complimenting the director’s choice to make a literal Plastic (?) beach for multiple sequences, or they were appreciating the hand-painted backgrounds in Barbie Land.
The love for the character, this story, these actors and the audience is on display in every frame. In a world where people really can’t seem to agree on pretty much anything, everyone decided that Barbie was a positive good in the universe. Greta Gerwig probably deserves a medal. We don’t have one of those, but she can absolutely take this Golden Issues Award home.
Congratulations to Greta Gerwig for Barbie’s second Golden Issue Award!
The nominees for Best Director are:
- Nia DaCosta, The Marvels
- John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
- Greta Gerwig, Barbie
- James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- Michael B. Jordan, Creed III
