the movie that could be made about gene and barry and the rest of it, in the universe of the show, after everything that's happened, is the negation of what the show Barry is. not only that, (and this isn't my thought, but i find it totally compelling) but Mask Collector's cast is filled by the exact kinds of actors who were in gene's class. hacks.tragabigzanda wrote:
- Spoiler: show
how could daniel day-lewis play gene, given the public account of what's happened? why would he take that role? what major studio would touch this story? it is the stuff of tabloids and is ripe for the b- or z-grade direct-to-streaming treatment it receives in Barry.
the irony of the redemption on offer in Mask Collector is it is a redemption only persuasive to children and psychopaths -- it's a redemption that barry himself imagined, in the moments while he prayed, before he was reunited with john. it's a redemption he abandoned before he was murdered. it's a redemption that may not even be palatable to john, given what sally told him about barry and herself -- that they are murders. this irony is only available to john, to sally, and to us.
but then again, the stunted myths peddled in Mask Collector would hold obvious appeal for john. the series ends by restaging for john in cinematic terms the choice barry couldn't make. to the extent john accepts this movie is the extent to which he remains a child or, worse, becomes undone by his own pathologies.
as ever, things are fucked in Barry.
(brilliant casting of jim cummings as barry in MC)
