Terrence Malick

[RNL]

Terrence Malick (1943- )

[jake]

1. Days of Heaven (1978)
2. Badlands (1973)
3. The New World (2005)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)

[Capo]

1. The New World 2005
2. Badlands 1973
3. The Thin Red Line 1998
4. Days of Heaven 1978

[ronnierocketago]

BADLANDS(1973) - Masterpiece - *****

[Vercetti]

The New World

[Capo]

Vercetti, the romance in the film is superbly handled. Malick portrays it, much like, interestingly, Ang Lee does in Brokeback Mountain, as a thing of great natural beauty, enveloped by the dream-like nature around them. Smith (Farrel, brilliant) remarks in voice-over at one point that "all else is unreal", and then, later, tells Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher, fantastic), now renamed Rebecca as part of English society, that he keeps thinking what they had was "all a dream". The use of Wagner's Das Rheingold, twice in the film, a lengthy passage which underlines the Steadicam shots of a beautifully edited montage sequence midway through and then the final self-discovery, of sorts, of some kind of contentment in Pocahontas, is deeply moving.

In short, a beautiful, resonating film which is going to stay with me until I see it again, much like Malick's Pocahontas yearns for the rogueish Captain Smith.

[RNL]

I'm seeing both this and Brokeback Mountain tomorrow. Can't wait.

[Capo]

Two stars for The New World. I'm sort of disappointed, since I still can't stop thinking about the film. What are your further thoughts?

[RNL]

It should've been quite a bit longer, I think. It's a bit muddled.

There's kind of two films here. One's a continuation of The Thin Red Line, about man's encroachment on nature and his destructive impulse and the futility of it all. The other's about memory, and so is a continuation of Badlands and Days of Heaven, which are very much subjective past tense narratives. The two films share time in The New World, the former seems to dictate what's being photographed, the latter the way in which it's edited together.

It's as though at some far removed time and place these internal monologues are occuring and what we're seeing is flashes of the memories they're evoking in their thinkers, but from the point of view of Malick's camera, which becomes a third-person "memory explorer." A really cool narrative conceit. I especially loved the shot of the present-day tombstone at the very end.

[Capo]

wetdog said:

It should've been quite a bit longer, I think. It's a bit muddled.

It could've been, yes; quite easily, and I would have taken relish in going along with it all the way. Bale's introduction seems very late, and I can see why you thought it was muddled. In fact, I am always cautious about late-in-the-day introductions, but the different style, a new life, of sorts, to the second part added even more resrospective weight to the earlier scenes between Pocahontas and Smith.

I forgot to mention in my review the implications of the title: Is the new world that on which the English settle, or the English world which Rolfe takes his bride back to; or indeed, the foundings of a new country altogether? Whatever, as my first real taste of Malick (I watched The Thin Red Line before becoming a cineaste, really, and Badlands before appreciating the director's interesting career arc), this is a kind of aesthetic new world for me.

I cannot wait to see it again.

[jake]

I've updated my list.

I've now seen The New World twice since its release here on Friday and any attempt to articulate what I feel about this film would be impossible to attempt. It is one of the few movies that have made me tear up . The final 20 or so minutes are completely devastating.

Four films in 32 years is a disappointingly small output but I'm completely thankful he has made these four films.

[Capo]

Jake, I was wondering what you'd think of it, knowing you're a Malick fan. Glad you loved it; I too, want to see it again.

I was looking at the IMDb page for it yesterday, and was shocked to find it's only 135 minutes. I thought it was longer. In this respect, I agree with Wet Dog that its material would have benefited more from another half hour or so.

[jake]

I definitely would have liked at least another half an hour (I'm also calling for Malick's original 4 hour cut of The Thin Red Line to be released ) but as it is I can't think of anything that could be added to improve the film. Perfectly paced, scenes between Smith and "Rebecca" extremely touching and make the final 20 minutes or so all the more devastating.

The images, dialogue, music all completely beautiful. Both times I came out of the screening in a trance. That has only happened once before - when I saw Andrei Rublev on the big screen. After seeing this it confirmed something I already knew - The big screen is the only place to see Malick's films.

Perhaps I'm gazing at this through my Malick tinted specs but this film was everything I wanted and more.

[johndav]

I'm really looking forward to seeing The New World. Everything takes so long to get here in Brittany. Of course Malick is an unusually intelligent + cultured director, known for visual beauty + sophistication, representation of nature, and interesting use of voice-overs. He certainly has good taste cos he's a Mizoguchi fan, directed a stage version of Sansho the Bailiff. Months back i saw an ad for The New World, and before i'd even grasped which film it was i was struck by one shot that reminded me at once of Sansho (the most poignant single moment in screen history, when Anju goes into the water).

[ronnierocketago]

BTW, kudos to the usually ignorant Academy for giving a worthy Oscar nod at least for Best Cinematography to THE NEW WORLD. It'll probably lose to something like BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN(meh!), but hey better nominated than ignored!

[Capo]

The New World mustn't have done very good in its opening week at my local multiplex. From tomorrow til next Thursday the only screening they're showing it is 11:15 am each day. I hope to catch it either on Sunday or Tuesday, then.

[Capo]

I should be seeing Days of Heaven soon, albeit a borrowed VHS copy. Ideally, I'd like a DVD of it. After re-watching The Thin Red Line today, I'd rate it just behind The New World, and Badlands, for now, behind those two. All three are excellent.

Wet Dog, have you rewatched Red Line yet since buying it?

Jake, how'd you rank his work?

[RNL]

No, not yet.

[jake]

I rank his work in this order;

Days of Heaven
Badlands
The New World
The Thin Red Line

The first two are locked in that position whilst the latter two will be, I think, interchangeable. It all depends which one I've seen most recently.

A mixture of sheer laziness and inability to articulate what these films mean to me stops me from giving full explanations as to why I love his work. Days of Heaven is my favourite American film of all time and was the first film on my currently in-work top 10 list. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it, Capo.

[Capo]

Actually, I'm seeing Caché later today with someone from whom I've requested a loan of Days of Heaven. Here's hoping...