We are entering the Oscar season. We have met the nominees, and soon we will know the winners of the academy award. Ahead of that event, I decided, as part of this series, to take a look at the hottest director names associated with this year’s ceremony. We’ll start with a director with whom there is a controversy. She has created one of the most important films of recent decades. Her last year’s production was a worldwide phenomenon and turned out to be the highest grossing film in Warner Bros. history. It was nominated in many categories, including the main one. But the creator of this work herself was… snubbed. The person who dedicated herself fully to this movie was not rewarded for the work she put in. This caused a huge outrage and reawakened the discourse on the point of nominating films in the main category without nominating directors.

Greta Gerwig

The person of interest herself is none other than Greta Gerwig. One of the hottest names of recent years, not only within the directing field, but in general in the entire film landscape. The artist has taken Hollywood by storm. She gathered critical acclaim and audience love in just a few years and climbed to the top. She did it while fully maintaining her individuality. The director is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects or be an innovator within the framework of what can be shown on the screen. At the same time, her creations never lack authenticity. This is because in her works she touches on subjects close to herself, human subjects that we also encounter every day.

She shows how to learn to be at peace with ourselves, how to discover who we are. In addition, she has a great understanding of awkwardness, which is, after all, an integral part of our daily life. That is why it is so easy to identify with her works. From the first minutes of her films, we begin to empathize with her characters and understand them fully. This is all for one reason. Her characters are just like us.

Together with her husband, also a director – Noah Baumbach, who tells about the difficulties of interpersonal relationships, they form one of the most interesting duos in today’s Hollywood.

An actress and a storyteller

In addition to directing, Greta is involved in other spheres of this branch of art. She is an actress and, of course, a screenwriter. Before she started making her own films she appeared in the cinema in front of the camera. Often these roles were in her husband’s films. She transferred to her acting the same thing that her directing is known for: the naturalness and awkwardness of relationships. The most iconic of her roles is probably the main character of Noah Baumbach’s movie: Frances Ha. The film is about a girl who wakes up every day with a new idea for her future. After she took on filmmaking, we see her less and less often as an actress, but this does not mean that she has completely let go of this profession. Every now and then she continues to appear in films, for example, most recently in White Noise. Alongside this, she creates scripts for her productions.

Lady Bird

Her solo directorial debut comes in 2017 with Lady Bird. The film itself also launched the career of the brilliant Saoirse Ronan who plays the main character, Christina “Lady Bird” McPherson. Gerwig will continue to work with the actress in the future. The two ladies make no secret of their huge friendship and their common artistic goals.

The story shown in the production is a year in the life of a girl who studies in a Catholic high school. The lifestyle promoted at this school does not quite agree with her views. Greta Gerwig brilliantly portrayed all aspects of the girl’s adolescence. The main character experiences her first serious love relationships, her first serious parties and contacts with stimulants. All these situations are interspersed with subsequent conversations with her parents, which more and more often end in arguments. Because of this, the protagonist feels less and less understood by her mother. However, this is not a situation where the blame is one-sided which the director portrays with understanding and sensitivity. The moments when Lady Bird finds a slight thread of understanding with her mother are incredibly satisfying.

Along with the adventures that happen to the protagonist, she tries to find herself and understand what is important to her in life. This theme will be central to the artist and will run through her creations. Just giving herself the name “Lady Bird”, is a kind of symbol of defining her own self. The whole emotional journey is shown by using soft pastel colors and in a very melancholic style, which is related to nostalgia for the same period from the author’s life.

Little Women

The second film by an American director was a screen adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s best-selling novel. This is the eighth transfer of the book to the screen, considered by many to be the best, and certainly the most relevant today. Gerwig managed to gather an extremely talented cast to help transform the writer’s words to the screen. In addition to Saoirse Ronan, from the previous film, the production features Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Bob Odenkirk and the legendary Meryl Streep.

The story follows the life of Jo March. Working as a New York teacher, the protagonist recalls the times of the Civil War. Through this, she thinks back to her youth, when she and her sisters faced adversity together, while squeezing as much as possible out of life. The theme from the previous movie returns: female protagonists who, in the process of the story, must understand who they are.

Gerwig’s version not only transfers situations from the original in a perfect way, but also improves them. Scenes that were described in the book as static here are set into motion. In previous adaptations, in many sequences the characters sit still or even if they perform an action they do it in a static shot. In the latest version, the characters are constantly moving, and the shots feed the viewer with a view of the changing environment. Such a solution is more eye-catching and helps tell the story better visually. As a result, not only the words but also the gestures and movements of the characters speak of emotions.

What should also be praised are the beautiful costumes and phenomenal set design reflecting the era. The quality of these elements is enhanced by masterful lighting adding to the atmosphere.

Going back to improving the situation from the books. The director decided to change the ending of the book in her adaptation. This was in order to better fit it into the theme and relate it to the life of the author of the original. To discover what this change was about, I encourage you to check out the film yourself.

Barbie

The author’s biggest film and success to date. It is not only the highest-grossing production of 2023, but also the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film ever. We can already say that it has won multiple awards and been nominated for academy awards. A cultural phenomenon that made history and which is a kind of symbol of the past year.

The production is distinguished by a great visual layer. From the first minutes the scenery impresses with its grandeur and attention to detail. Plastic Barbieland is one of the most interesting fictional locations in the history of cinema. Within the doll world, the characters are portrayed centrally, immaculately lit and shown in saturated, soft colors. This contrasts with the image of the characters in the “real” scenery, where these shots are more natural. This emphasizes the differences between the realms. In addition, during the course of the film, the color of Barbie’s hair adapts to the environment. I have already praised the genius of the costumes reflecting the different models of the dolls in an article from the first issue.

Probably everyone reading knows the plot of the film, but out of journalistic duty I will nevertheless outline it. We follow the fate of Stereotypical Barbie, who must go to the real world to discover what ails her owner. On this journey she is accompanied by Ken, whose advances the protagonist successively disposes of. Over the course of the story, the main character will learn the hardships of life for a modern woman and understand what is really important to her by discovering the value in life. Her companion, on the other hand, faces a similar crossing. This one has to face the pressure that society imposes on his gender and understand that he does not have to conform to it and that he is (K)enough.

The director managed to offer understanding to both women and men. She portrayed the film’s relationships in an extremely honest way. At the same time, many scenes are extremely creative and bold. Gerwig sensitively grasped raised topics, perfectly balancing humor and emotional layers. As a result, the story won the hearts of people around the world.

What comes next?

Gerwig’s impeccable filmography established her as one of the hottest names in Hollywood today. The success of Barbie has made her the creator of the most grossing production directed by a woman. All this means that she will be in demand in the coming years. So what will the artist be involved in in the future?

We can be sure that she will continue to co-produce films with her husband. This collaboration fuels both of them and has resulted in some of the most interesting cinematic projects of recent years. After all, it was Baumbach who wrote the script for Barbie along with Gerwig.

The couple was even asked about rumors about a production of Ken. They didn’t deny it, they merely circumvented the topic with a joke. This indicates that something may be afoot, but even if it is, Gerwig’s function in this project remains a mystery.

It was announced some time ago that the director will be taking on a new film adaptation of the Narnia novels. She will be responsible for the first two books, which she will bring to the screen for Netflix. Those, despite the questionable reputation of their films, usually, in the case of big names, leave creative freedom. In this way, the more interesting part of their library is created. So we can hope that in the case of Greta’s project it will be the same and we will get a great piece of cinema. After the director showed off her excellent creation of Barbie’s world, the prospect of her bringing to life a fantasy wonderland sounds fascinating.

But what is perhaps obvious is that the artist will now be on wishlists for many projects. So we can be sure that we will hear about her many times and that we are in for many more productions coming from her hands.