Tag: Terrence Malick

Knight of Cups

“Knight of Cups” stars Christian Bale in a spiritual journey through LA and follow-up to “The Tree of Life.”

KnightofCupsIn ways that are both enlightening and maddening, Terrence Malick continues to demonstrate in his latest film “Knight of Cups” a remarkable eye for visuals and creative ways of playing with depth. Since “The Tree of Life,” Malick’s polarizing masterpiece, critics have divided on whether Malick’s movies have grown tired, in that they’re beautiful and breathtaking, but too much like all his others.“Knight of Cups” follows in “Tree of Life’s” tradition as a dreamy, formless, spiritual, often indulgent film of a man drifting through life as hushed voiceovers adorn the images. But in small ways, Malick shows he’s still experimenting and innovating within his style, employing the now three-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki to engineer turbulent, liberated and delirious fish-eye shots using GoPro cameras. At times the film arguably looks more like Jean-Luc Godard’s “Goodbye to Language 3D” than it does “The Tree of Life,” and you wonder what brilliant and creative things Malick might do in 3D or another new format. And lord knows that with Lubezki he has the means.

Yes, “Knight of Cups” is still very “Malick-esque,” but for all its excesses, “Knight of Cups” still feels beguiling as a thoughtful, artistic look at existentialism, at examining what it means to be alive, even amid so much excitement, sex, opulence and hedonism.

“You think that when you reach a certain age things will start to make sense. That’s damnation. They never come together. Just splashed out there.” Malick explores this thesis throughout “Knight of Cups” both thematically and formally. Watching it is like witnessing a flashback of a life as an otherworldly spirit. The film’s weightless camera wanders around to observe moments and emotions rather than a concrete story. Everything’s “just splashed out there,” disconnected in ways that can be as frustrating as they are invigorating.

Our vessel is the wealthy Hollywood playboy and screenwriter Rick (Christian Bale). He revisits the relationships in his life, from fast friends, past lovers, bosses, brothers and fathers, and in each encounter he drifts without much feeling or words to articulate his mood. One of his girlfriends, the punk, free spirit Della (Imogen Poots), challenges his depression with the question, “Am I bringing you back to life?” With his reckless brother Barry (Wes Bentley), he can communicate entirely through posturing and body language. His ex-wife Nancy (Cate Blanchett) still loves and hates Rick passionately, but likely knows more about him than he ever will.

The title “Knight of Cups” refers to a tarot card and fairy tale of a man who can’t remember he’s the king’s son after drinking from a special cup. Each of Malick’s vignettes, as broken up through chapters, shows a man trying to remember who he is and who he was. Other films have shown men disillusioned with their life of wealth, women and splendor. But in “Knight of Cups,” even during a massive, celebrity-cameo filled party sequence at a glorious palatial estate, the film’s graceful editing, score and cinematography suggest something beyond just Rick’s glittering anguish.

Even a trip to Las Vegas finds a new mystique through Malick’s eye. It’s lush and beautiful rather than loud, sensational and trashy. He’s separated the confetti-filled, neon colored raves from their typical emotions and associated them instead with something gorgeous and ethereal. In Malick’s Vegas, there are as many peaceful, Zen moments as when he takes Rick inside a tranquil Buddhist monastery.

At a certain point however, the film’s weightless quality itself does grow aimless, even anemic. If “Knight of Cups” observes a life in progress from afar, then sure enough it will be filled with highs, lows and even boredom. How many impeccable shots of beautiful women frolicking barefoot on the beach can you honestly have?

There’s no doubt that Malick’s latest has some indulgence and seriously inscrutable moments. It falls short of “The Tree of Life’s” masterful reverie but surpasses the drearier slog of his last film, the equally formless “To the Wonder.” But “Knight of Cups” is its own film, and rather than turning in on his own bad habits, Malick is just beginning to find new meaning in the world.

3 ½ stars

2013 Movie Catch Up

Catching up with 2013 gems like “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” “The East,” “Short Term 12” and “To the Wonder”

I easily watch more new movies in December than any other month in the year. It’s a race to see what movies might end up on my year-end list and what movies I can start predicting for Oscar nominations.

Now both of those events have passed, and the urgency is gone. Still there are movies like “A Touch of Sin,” “The Past,” “Wadjda,” “At Berkeley,” “The Great Beauty,” “Bastards” and “The Wind Rises” that are beyond where I can easily access them (so maybe expect a part two to this post), but for those gaps that seemed most pressing, I finally amended them.

Rather than suffer through a full review for each long after the moment has passed, here are some capsule thoughts on recent 2013 movies I felt needed to be seen before they got lost in next year’s shuffle.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – 3 ½ stars

Though featuring shots that seem lifted from “Badlands” and a story that would appear to chronicle that film’s aftermath, “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” isn’t quite Terence Malick-lite. David Lowery’s film details the end of jailbirds Bob and Ruth, but not their sordid beginning. Lowery instead explores the will of Bob to escape from prison and return to his wife and daughter he’s never met and Ruth’s determination to start anew. Bradford Young’s cinematography evokes the rustic earth tones present in Malick’s best and worst while Daniel Hart’s music channels Nick Cave with rhythmic pattering and trembling strings. But Lowery separates the spiritual poetry and narrated prose from the imagery, making this strictly a film about responsibility and parenting, establishing the close-knit tension from how seemingly close the characters are to accomplishing what they must. Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck only share a handful of scenes, but their chemistry is in the unspeakable ether. Affleck has a simple, matter of fact presentation of his jailbreak that categorizes the whole movie’s tender mystique and close to the bone authenticity. “Sir, I used to be the devil, and now, I’m just a man.” Continue reading “2013 Movie Catch Up”

Oscars 2012: Should Win

“The Tree of Life” leads my picks for who should win at the 2012 Oscars.

When critics write columns detailing who should win at the Oscars, they can be very self-serving.

Mostly, the articles act as a way for bloggers to draw a line in the sand and pick a side, rallying readers who will stand behind them. And in the process we weave an increasingly complex narrative for what a win at the Oscars will mean for our favorite.

It wasn’t enough to have a favorite; we had to be on Team Sandra or Team Meryl. It wasn’t enough to call “The Hurt Locker” the best movie of the year; it had to be a benchmark for 21st Century war films and a victory for female directors.

But none of that matters because the Oscars will act the way they always do and disappoint someone in the way they always have and always will.

My better column on the Oscars focused on the films and actors that were completely forgotten and lost in the shuffle of the Oscar madness. Those Anti-Oscars served as a reminder that there were other good movies this year.

The Oscars themselves are a reminder too, and even if I default to some of the clichés I’ve already mentioned, I plant my flag to recognize quality where it’s due. Most of the nominees are quite good (although some aren’t) and to pick just one is harder than you know.

Best Picture – The Tree of Life

It took seeing “The Tree of Life” only once to recognize it was an important film but twice to see it as a masterpiece. And rarely is a film, least of all an American film this significant, cemented in cinematic history, hotly debated and with this magnificent of a theme, this close to being recognized as such. “The Tree of Life” is not just a work of art that innovates on what cinema can be and make you feel, but it challenged those norms to a wide audience that both embraced and rejected it. Such controversy is always a sign of greatness. Continue reading “Oscars 2012: Should Win”

2012 Oscar Nomination Analysis

The Academy really shook up the Awards season with their 2012 Oscar Nominations.

When the Academy introduced the new rule for Best Picture nominees, they wanted an element of surprise added back into the Oscar race.

They got it.

It seemed as if we all knew what was coming as soon as the graphic was flashed on screen such that only eight nominees would make it into the Best Picture race, with “War Horse” and “The Tree of Life” being the surprises.

But as if to slap all the Oscar prognosticators in the face for thinking the Academy was predictable and boring, Academy President Tom Sherak announced “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” last, a movie long thought dead in the minds of critics and bloggers. I in fact picked all eight of the other nominees save for “Extremely Loud,” and to see it pick up not one but two nominations was something of a gut punch.

The film was critically panned, and rightfully so. What shocks me is how of all the performers in that film, Max von Sydow was the one to steal the last spot in the Best Supporting Actor category, effectively robbing Albert Brooks of a nomination for his chilling work in “Drive.”

This is the first time in several years I have not seen all the nominees prior to their announcement, but I quickly saw ‘Extremely Loud” the same afternoon. I left flabbergasted into wondering why this not only irritating and cloying film, but one that often is more literally hurtful and painful than it is melodramatic and soppy, not only has enough people who like the film but have more than five percent of people who feel it is the best movie of the year. Continue reading “2012 Oscar Nomination Analysis”

The Tree of Life Revisited

“The Tree of Life” deserved a second viewing to fully appreciate it. It’s a masterpiece after all.

“That’s where God lives!”

If there was any film in 2011 that deserved revisiting, it was “The Tree of Life.” It may have been polarizing, but in a year of some great and some mediocre films, it stood as far and away the most important film of the year.

And what’s more, it took watching it twice to realize it’s a masterpiece.

When I originally reviewed the film, I was caught in a state of perplexed awe. I called the film a purely cinematic ode to life itself, but remained unclear of the symbolism and without a feeling of emotional levity.

And yet “The Tree of Life” is so much more than just an ode to life. Watching “The Tree of Life” resembles the feeling one might experience after a rough mid-life crisis: a feeling of peace, acceptance and embracement of life’s beauty.

Terrence Malick’s film is averse to the bitterness, negativity and cynicism that motivate us to search for unanswerable questions in life. Instead, it is a constantly beautiful film that views the color and frivolity of life existing all around us. Continue reading “The Tree of Life Revisited”

The Tree of Life

“The Tree of Life” is a purely cinematic experience. Terrence Malick has made a film that speaks life lessons and evokes fundamental human emotions through visuals and style above all else. In doing so, his film worships the gift of life itself.

The purpose of existence, as seen through Malick’s eyes, is to simply love life, and every part of it. Beauty, pain, sadness, joy and all else that encompasses our being are necessary to live and reach the afterlife, which Malick envisions as a place to cherish the life we came from.

Such a view may seem overly optimistic and unpractical to some, if not most, but this is Malick’s film first before anyone else’s, and its message appears utterly sincere to the environmental and natural themes evoked throughout the four other films in his nearly four decade career.

With messages as life fulfilling as these and a film as operatic and grand in scope as this, “The Tree of Life” preaches lessons that one could live by and has aspirations to be one of the greatest films ever made. It’s a bit far from that benchmark, but the intentions are sure and true, and the experience is still wholly enriching. Continue reading “The Tree of Life”

‘Tree of Life’ wins Palme D’Or: Cannes 2011 Recap

I’ve been following the events at this year’s Cannes film festival diligently for the last 12-ish days, and the news of how many great films, controversy and surprise has come out of France this year has been staggering.

But the biggest news of all was announced today when Terrence Malick’s highly anticipated family drama/sci-fi “The Tree of Life” was awarded the festival’s top prize, the Palme D’Or, by a jury led by Robert De Niro.

Malick, who previously won the Best Director award for “Days of Heaven,” is a notorious recluse and did not attend the festival, allowing his producers and star Brad Pitt to speak in his place. This marks the first time an American film has won the Palme since 2004 with Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and the first time an English language film has won since 2006 with Ken Loach’s “The Wind that Shakes the Barley.”

As for other American winners, Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress for her film “Melancholia.” In the film, she plays a woman about to get married as another planet is set on a collision course with the Earth. This is a real surprise following the outrage over the comments of the film’s director, Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier. Von Trier made some distasteful jokes in which he declared himself a Nazi and claimed he sympathized with Hitler. He also made derogatory comments about Jewish and fellow Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier (“In A Better World”) and said, “Israel is a pain in the ass.” Following everything he said (and Dunst’s real performance was not losing it during the press conference as she sat next to him), Cannes declared Von Trier a “persona non grata” and banned him from the festival.  Continue reading “‘Tree of Life’ wins Palme D’Or: Cannes 2011 Recap”

Rapid Response: Badlands

I have now seen all of Terrence Malick’s movies… that is until “The Tree of Life” comes out. But having seen his first film last, “Badlands,” it is interesting to see how Malick has grown as a director over time.

The film recreates the story of mass murderer Charles Starkweather and his young girlfriend Carill Ann Fugate, but in the movie they are Kit (Martin Sheen) and Holly (Sissy Spacek). These two young kids, he an out-of-work 25-year-old and she a 15-year-old student, are lonely people that simply find each other and discover themselves attached. Their love is hardly a strong connection, and although he looks like James Dean, appearances aren’t really involved either. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Badlands”

The New World

Even children know the story of Pocahontas. Her story does not need to be retold, and in fact it is slightly historically inaccurate. But there is still beauty in the story, and leave it to Terrence Malick to evoke the natural wonder contained within the British’s encounter with the “naturals” in “The New World.”

To make the Pocahontas tale a story for adults, Malick embeds in the film a message about the way we communicate when presented with something new. John Smith (Colin Farrell) begins the film as a stoic and silent convict in the crew to settle the colony of Jamestown. Upon arriving in the new world, it is expected of him to rebuild his reputation and communicate to the crew he is worthy of accepting the responsibility of exploring when presented with new circumstances. Continue reading “The New World”

Rapid Response: The Thin Red Line

Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line” is one of the most beautiful war films ever made. Whereas most directors making an anti-war film would photograph in dim light and with a chaotic queasy cam, “The Thin Red Line” is a lush, colorful, sweeping film from start to finish. When it is not in the midst of a battle, it finds more than enough times to be quiet, elegiac, and although it sounds like an oxymoron in a war film, peaceful.

A World War II epic released in 1998, I watched it in preparation for Malick’s upcoming “The Tree of Life,” and it is a stunning, modern, timeless film of relentless emotion and vivid cinematography. Few other war films have a moving, soaring camera during action sequences the way “The Thin Red Line” does, and Malick’s graceful jib shots made for an eye-opening war experience unlike any I had seen on film.

And yet some of the film’s most memorable shots seem very nearly out of place. One of the best is a quick glimpse of a mangled bird struggling to inch its way out of a tree. Malick populates his entire film with rich natural imagery. Nearly all of the battle sequences take place on a verdant hill with tall grasses that were reminiscent of the glorious wheat fields in “Days of Heaven.” And his whole reason for calling our attention to the wonderful looking things around this desolate war zone is to draw the dichotomy between hopeful beauty and pitiful bleakness.

The cast is star studded with past, present and future Oscar winners. Here is just a short list of names you will no doubt recognize: Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, James Caviezel, Elias Koteas, John Cusack, Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, John Travolta and George Clooney (who is literally in one scene about 150 minutes into this 170 minute epic, but you can’t miss him).

All of them give wonderful performances, and yet all were forgotten that year at the Oscars, despite the fact the film was nominated for seven awards. It lost all of its honors, including the much deserving Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography by John Toll and Best Score by Hans Zimmer to “Shakespeare in Love” and “Saving Private Ryan” (although “Life is Beautiful” took Best Score).

It’s regrettable, because”The Thin Red Line” has yet to be included in the canon of great war films, and ironically Steven Spielberg’s other World War II epic from the same year certainly is. Malick’s film is at least as good, if not better than “Saving Private Ryan.”

I’m looking forward to seeing “The New World” and “Badlands” to finish out all five of Malick’s films.