Ken Is Ryan Gosling at His Peak Musical Powers
Despite all the ways the film teases the supposedly unimportant Mattel male doll, the star of by Greta Gerwig Barbie doll, by all accounts, appears to be Ken. Or maybe, more accurately, it’s Ryan Gosling, whose internet rediscovered their relationship — and specifically, enjoyment — after five years he hasn’t acted in films. (We don’t admit it gray man.)
Thanks to some music sequences in Barbie doll, which included a powerful ’80s-style ballad called “I’m Just Ken” and a hysterical rendition of Matchbox Twenty’s “Push”, fans of the Canadian handsome man once again fell in love with his musical talent. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime role that feels like decades to play, given all the ways singing (and even dancing) has been woven throughout his career.
[Light spoilers for Barbie follow.]
As a member of a remarkable star cast Brand new Mickey Mouse Club and is the leader of a spooky rock band At one point, Gosling’s musical history was well-documented. However, much of his vocals are like a trump card that he always holds in his hand as an actor, as opposed to something he frequently thrashes about. (He is not Anne Hathaway or Hugh Jackmanper se.) But we’ve seen them in movies before, like Green Valentine And Lars and the real girl.
But even in what was perhaps the biggest display of his vocal prowess, the Oscar-winning musical La La Land, Gosling sang in a rather low, nonchalant voice—as the role most likely demanded. Overall, he doesn’t really show much in the movie other than his willingness to take on such a whimsical project and his ability to keep pace. Interestingly, during the 2016 awards season, Twitter users started spreading a clip scene of Gosling performing Jodeci’s “Cry For You” on Mickey Mouse Club, along with his all-boys group and co-star Justin Timberlake, as proof of the range and charisma his vocals can bring. Apparently he’s given us other examples of his chops since that clip, even if they weren’t quoted.
Fortunately, Barbie doll Bigger, flashier and a lot more camping than La La Land. As a result, the film’s musical moments require Gosling to give his best in an equally serious and humorous style instead of playing cool. In an interview with Weekly entertainment, he admitted that he needed to tap into his former Disney Mouseketeer self to portray the role. “At one point, I thought I abandoned that child,” Gosling said. “And I needed his help to make this movie. So I had to go back to make peace with him and ask him for help.”
All over Barbie doll and specifically in “I’m Just Ken,” where Gosling seems to be required to do, it’s hard not to see that bubbly inner kid who’s been repressed by his penchant for drama-heavy projects in recent years. (This is the energy of a man who was once the only boy in his family childhood dance group And performed in Elvis Presley’s cover band as a child.) Listening to him sing through auto-tune, it’s hard not to envision an alternate universe where Gosling as Mouseketeer was cast as a member of *NSYNC. What could have been!
If you don’t have it many buzz awards for Gosling, “I’m Just Ken” gives viewers a special moment from his performance to walk away. By the time he sings the number in the third act of Barbie dollhowever, it looks like he’s pushed this poor character to the limits of his humor. (Don’t be fooled by Barbie dollanti-Ken marketing. His arc is more than just an accessory to his significant other.)
Likewise, the film sees Ken go from being Barbie’s side volunteer and a second-class citizen in Barbie Land, along with the rest of Ken’s family, to becoming her oppressor. Ken joins Barbie on an emergency trip to the real world after her perfect PVC body begins to malfunction. There he first enjoyed the fruits of patriarchy and brought the system back to Barbie Land, where he and the rest of the Kens family adopted exemplary brotherly behavior.
One of them is pulling out a guitar and boring their respective Barbie dolls to death with a Matchbox Twenty cover. (According to laughter in my screening, many women have gone through this painful experience.) In the end, the isolationist trilogy of Ken doesn’t prevail, and the platinum blonde doll is pushed back to a life of almost meaninglessness, defined by his love for Barbie and the Beach.
So he breaks into “I’m Just Ken,” a powerful ballad that I must admit lacks a lot of, well, power. (Mark Ronson, despite being a master arranger, can’t write a catchy pop hook, I’m sorry!) There’s a humorous line in the chorus when Ken asks, “Is it my destiny to live and die in the life of a fragile blonde?” But unfortunately, it’s not the kind of trivia that you’ll stick in your head after you leave the theater. Despite that, the sequence is still provocative and impressive in magnitude. At one point, all of the Kens performed the song in a cotton candy-colored wide space, featuring Gene Kelly in an all-black transparent outfit. dream ballet with Cyd Charisse IN Singin’ in the rain.
Time will tell whether the awarding bodies and especially Academy voters will be dazzled by Gosling’s or “I’m Just Ken” performance. EQUAL the Internet Satisfied To be. If he is nominated for an Oscar in the future, I can only hope that Gosling will act on television this time instead of give it to John Legend.
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