A Youthquake Retrospective: Best of Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst films are always worth a rewatch
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Wednesday’s Pop Culture Cold Brew is a collection of pop culture adjacency news that’s sincerely piqued our interest, only without the celebrity worship culture.
We’re dipping into Kirsten Dunst’s filmography for this week instead of regular posting. Get into it below.
Initially, a fun discourse reminiscing about some nostalgic classics evolved into a deep dive of one of my longtime favorite actors, Kirsten Dunst. Growing up in a household where films were a luxury during the nineties— with awkward adolescence in the early aughts, there’s an affinity to the successfully skilled actress’ craft. The talent to effortlessly flow through genres with an endearing quality and seemingly easy, Kirsten Dunst is never to be forgotten; her IMDB speaks wonders from cherished cult classics such as The Virgin Suicides, Get Over It!, Dick, and more.
Like Britney Spears being the teen dream, Kirsten Dunst’s early film celebrates teen life with films about alienation, belonging, and all the mixed-up emotions in between that never seem to shake even in adult life.
Dunst has long established herself with a gifted craft early on as Claudia in 1994’s, Interview with a Vampire, opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It’s easy to forget she’s a young actress since she’s grown up before our eyes, truly an actress of a generation with the ability to refuse limited terms as far as genres. Choosing characters over concepts, yet still, Dunst was overlooked compared to her male co-stars or her looks, and then-dating life somehow took precedence over her actual work.
Portraying her as effervescently bubbly or seemingly blasé in glossy editorials was a constant in fusty interviews; Vanity Fair’s piece stuck out to me for reducing while simultaneously using Kirsten’s filmography against her. With more ‘Teen Choice award buzz and less Oscar buzz’ despite that most of Kirsten Dunst’s films are so treasured, they’re well regarded not just in pop culture but also in American culture— even in 2012.
Disregarding Dunst’s established array of genres to teen fluff is perplexing, Kirsten Dunst and her filmography are globally loved. Her films became such staples throughout my life and all its stages and ages. As critics panned her films, her fans found solace and comfort in the range of her talent that ebbs and flows from blockbuster hits to indie darling. Not to mention finding success on television and films with fantastically interesting characters that Dunst has always been ahead of her time. Long overlooked, Kirsten Dunst’s Academy Award-winning and award-nominating time are nigh with the latest release of Jane Campion’s Power of the Dog via Netflix. To celebrate, we’ve put together a respective retrospect of the 10 best Kirsten Dunst films.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
While Dunst serves as the voice for a young Anastasia in the 1997 animated classic, our pick goes to Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service by Studio Ghibli.
Interview with a Vampire
Eternally creepy and darkly comedic at times, Dunst’s take on the immortal child vampire Claudia stole the film and left us wanting more of her in horror roles— imagine her as a final girl in some auteur’s arthouse horror film.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott is a childhood favorite and no disrespect to Florence Pugh’s rendition in Greta Gerwig’s periodic take. Still, Dunst’s version is rightly petulant and headstrong as the youngest March sister, Amy.
Strike!
Truly an underrated hidden gem with a star-studded cast that not many seem to remember due to several film name changes. While it was released back in 1998, it’s a coming-of-age tale around feminism and politics of the sixties, and I credit my instilled radicalism from watching for strong characters like Dunst’s Verena.
Drop Dead Gorgeous
When initially released, a mockumentary centered on teen beauty and pageantry was critically panned and wildly misunderstood. Importantly satirical and cleverly fun, it’s not even a guilty pleasure— it’s a spoofy treat.
Bring it On
Irrevently crucial, Bring it On was the little movie that did. Dunst nailed the classism and white savior complex as Torrence Shipman faced Gabrielle Union’s formidable Isis, competing cheerleading captains with white-washed gentrified cheers.
Crazy Beautiful
John Stockwell’s Crazy/Beautiful isn’t so much about star-crossed lovers as it’s about the nuances of the film, a sex-positive portrayal with classism and mental health, albeit a missed opportunity to explore further perceptions. Dunst’s raw and layered performances are always a standout.
Marie Antoinette
Sofia Coppola’s magnum opus is spectacularly lush, and I consider it a favorite as far as periodic pieces. Ahead of its time with retelling, the film achieved cult status. Much like the Dauphine of France, Marie Antoinette was unfortunately misunderstood by critics as Coppola’s modern retouches were lambasted— most still have yet to understand the film centers around the complexities of being a young adult in a suffocating world of society’s conformist rules and expectations.
Bachelorette
Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland’s writes coked-out debauchery of a film in 2012’s Bachelorette. Not quite the Bridesmaids or The Hangover of raunch comedy, the disregarded film focuses on a self-destructive lens between years-long friendships between friends who ultimately seem to dislike each other. It’s real and not the feel-good female friendship-centric formula most are used to; it’s darkly twisted.
Melancholia
Long before Tyrion Lannister knew things, Dunst knew it all in 2011’s Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. The film encapsulates the ugly and catatonic side of depression and the soul-crushing aspect of living against the crumbling world.
I still long for the what-if of Kirsten Dunst’s adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, which would star Dakota Fanning for Dunst’s directorial debut; sadly, the project plans fell through years ago. However, we look forward to watching her in other favorites that include Wag the Dog, Midnight Special, The Virgin Suicides, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hidden Figures, The Beguiled, All Good Things, Spider-Man trilogy, and so many more. Kirsten Dunst excels at refusing conventionality while captivating audiences with her multidimensional roles. That should be continually celebrated and, more importantly, appreciated in the present time.