Posterized: Terrence Malick
Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 9:32AM Until only very recently Terrence Malick, born in the North but raised in the Southwest, was something like a ghost of the cinema. Gone but not forgotten but still not numbered amongst the living. Or he was, at the least, something like an Auteurist Brigadoon, emerging from the ether once every hundred years before vanishing again. But ever since The Tree of Life (2011) he's been working non-stop. I've no idea what changed for the man but the cinematic landscape is all the better for it. Or at least the prettier for it. The man does consecrate the natural world with his camera.
To date Malick has made six features. How many have you seen?
Badlands (1973) | Days of Heaven (1978) | The Thin Red Line (1998)
The New World (2005) | The Tree of Life (2011) | To The Wonder (2013)
His filmmography may jump to nine in no time. He has three movies that are supposedly done filming: Voyage of Time with narration by Brad Pitt & Emma Thompson; Knight of Cups with Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman; and something still Untitled that used to be known as Lawless with those same three actors and more. I sometimes suspect that the latter two are the same movie and the shroud of secrecy that covers the Malick Mystique has only confused and multipied it in the minds of movie websites everywhere.
Anyway, back to the now. Will you see To the Wonder despite the uncharacteristically negative reviews? And are those reviews worrisome since he's working at such an uncharacteristic Woody/Clint clip these days?
Reader Comments (30)
I'll certainly see To the Wonder regardless of the bad buzz. It's Terrence Malick. You don't miss his movies no matter how far afield they end up being.
I've seen his whole filmography with Days of Heaven being my favorite. I have a special place in my heart for all of them in one way or another though.
Anybody willing to take such an ambitious chomp out of movies deserve admiration for that at least.
My favorite director, all categories, so he has a gold-encased lifetime pass whatever he decides to do. The fact that "To the Wonder" doesn't even have a release date in my country is seriously making me consider emigration. Or at least a hunger strike.
I've seen them all, including To the Wonder at TIFF last year. I'm a big admirer of Malick's films, I love everything about them: the use of nature as a main character, the half-whispered rambling philosophical voiceovers, the classical music, the feels-like-you're-right-there cinematography.
I'm not too worried about his current prolific work rate because none of those projects have release dates. Knowing Malick, he will be sitting in the editing chair for another two or three years getting them to where he wants them. If they were all coming out around the same time then I'd be worried.
As for To the Wonder's mixed reviews, I can't say I'm surprised; although it has all the trademarks of a Malick film, it just "feels" different; it's definitely a lot more experimental. And for the record yes, I loved it.
I've seen them all except The New World. I had the chance to see a restored copy of Days of Heaven at a movie theatre and it was a mesmerizing experience thanks to the genius of Néstor Almendros. It's probably my favorite Malick.
Nick Davis scared me to death, but I love Bardem so I don't know what do with myself.
I am so "afraid" of going to see To the Wonder. There is no kind of movie that I despise the most than a highbrow artsy movie with nothing behind it. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case with To the Wonder, but they're just so boring. Does this make me a bad cinephie?
Not sure how this movie's reviews are more negative. Since coming back with The Thin Red Line, I always thought Malick movies were love it or hate it with critics. There are critics I enjoy and trust who did not think much of Tree of Life or The New World so I can see a situation where I could like To the Wonder. Then again, I constantly compare Malick to Tarkovsky in my head and I feel like all of Tarkovsky's filmography is in my all-time Top 100- so I feel privy to dig anything Malick does.
I have seen all except "To the Wonder," which I will see. Tree of Life and The New World are among my all-time favorites, and I also love Badlands and Days of Heaven. I was more mixed on The Thin Red LIne.
What a visionary though.
I guess I am in the minority here, but I really don't get the fuss about Terrence Malick to be honest. I thought 'The New World' was just dull and overlong, and 'The Tree of Life' was visually impressive, but in the end it was just like extremely beautiful images pasted together, one after another. I know many people think there is a message there, something transcendent in his movies, but all I see is 'state of the art' pretentious pictures. Moreover, I've always thought of Malick as an artist turned director, and for me, a good looking movie doesn't make a good one. Before I get trashed, I understand the people that like his work, it's just that I consider myself a movie lover and I feel strange when Malick comes into the conversation and it sparks so much passion. I just don't get it.
@Javier
I think narrative isn't important to Malick as feeling.
Im a big Terrence Malick film, but i have to admit i didn't really like To The Wonder. I didn't find he was saying much this time. The movie felt way too flat and incredibly repetitive. It felt like the film was going in circles. Was what the point of Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem's characters?
let's not forget that The New World got some scathing reviews and rightfully so....sure, it looked like a painting, but man was it a bad time at the movies. My point? Mallick isn't immune to bad reviews.....I think even Badlands had its detractors, although I don't know why.
I've liked to loved all of his stuff (haven't yet seen TO THE WONDER) but i like The Tree of Life much less than most. I think it's my least favorite.
I must be a bad cinephile, because I'm managed to see 1/3 of 1 of these, and that's "The Thin Red Line". I fell asleep 3 times while watching it in the theater. They're very pretty movies, but they've felt like looking at a still life painting... for seven hours without blinking. I know I'm in a minority on this one.
Hey Nathaniel, Bale is only in Knight of Cups, the Untitled film has Gosling and Fassbender. Though knowing what Malick does in the editing room he may shuffle them, or just axe all three!
@ john
wrong!
On paper Bale, Blanchett and Portman are in both films. Ever since the projects were announced up until now.
Naturally, we have to wait and see what their fate is once the films are released.
His first five; I love two of them unreservedly (Badlands, A New World), like one of them a lot (Tree of Life), mixed (Days of Heaven) and unreserved hate (The Thin Red Line)
Yes, because frankly, there is no one like Malick working right now.
I just wish Malick would return to narrative filmmaking again. The whispered, didactic voice-overs and billowing laundry and spinning through wheat fields and staring into the distance...it's all getting old.
To the Wonder is a great, imperfect movie, but most people are going to hate it, and there's just no talking to the haters. I'm not surprised at all by the bad reviews. Its too abstract, and its too small, and its too delicate, like a half remembered dream unspooling on screen.
I have seen all of malick's movies except new world,
if he retires again it's no loss to hollywood.
@tr lol.
I've seen "badlands" and "the tree of life" and parts of "the new world", and though I really liked these, I can't help but agree with jr.
*tr, sorry.
I treasure three of his films with absolute admiration and love: Badlands, The Thin Red Line, and The New World, the latter two of which were #1's in their given years.
In regards to Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life, I have my reservations about them, mostly because I think Malick often flaunts without necessarily servicing the film, but the beautiful moments that do come up I really loved. For example, I loved EVERY scene in The Tree of Life that looks at the O'Brien family, but I could have done without the Sean Penn sequences, which I don't think add anything substantial.
So I'm looking forward to "To the Wonder," although reading Nick Davis' negative twitter response to it is telling, given that our tastes are often very similar. We'll see.
Haven't seen To the Wonder yet, but I love everything else pretty unreservedly. I'd rank them like so:
1. The Tree of Life (granted, it's te newest, so this might change with time.)
2. Badlands
3. Days of Heaven
4. The New World
5. The Thin Red Line
Straight 'A's ... And three of them (TToL, DoH, TTRL) are my favorite films from their respective years. The two underachievers only made second place.
What happened to Qorianka Kilcher? LOVED HER so much in The New World! Is really that hardto find a good role for a Native-American?
"Days of Heaven" is still one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
How can anyone really afford to skip a Malick film? I absolutely will be there, and it will take me a few months before I will know whether I love it ("The Tree of Life", "The Thin Red Line") or hate it ("The New World"). I know for sure that I will not be ambivalent, and what more could you ask of any visit to a theater?
The only one I haven't seen is To The Wonder but the rest of them are all at least good, ranging from pretty good (Badlands) to great (Thin Red Line, New World) to masterful (Days, Tree). I know tons of people will take me to the ring for this but I think Badlands is his least interesting film although I definitely need to revisit that one again.
But yeah, you can't miss a Terrence Malick. In early 2006 when The New World was still coming out in that murky limited release, I remember someone saying after a screening, "No true cinephile misses a Terrence Malick in theaters!". To The Wonder? To the theater!
Terrence Malick is current cinema's transcendentalist. An artist working on his very own plane of existence, almost. So yeah, that makes his films immeasurably treasured. 'The Tree of Life' is one of my ten favorite films of all time and 'The Thin Red Line' and 'The New World' aren't too far behind.
I expect nothing but sublime for 'To The Wonder'.
My absolute favorite working director. Tree of Life is in my top 5 films of all time ..I just saw To The Wonder last night...Raw and heartfelt !
Saw 'To the Wonder' today and - against expectations, given that I felt he was due a bad movie - loved it, especially the Bardem material. I like all his films and feel really lucky to be living in a time where he is coming up with this stuff and I can follow his artistic move from one film to another. I would definitely agree that his films work best over the senses rather than the intellect though; I don't think about his films as I watch them, but enjoy them as a sensual experience.
I also don't think 'To the Wonder' is necessarily more experimental than his other films; I just think it tells an incredibly simple story which doesn't require - or could not sustain - much extra narrative explication.