Terence Malick's forthcoming films, 2015-2017

Well it will definitely kill three hours!

I am struggling to articulate to myself why this felt so much different/better than the last few (which I admired as experiments without really loving). The flow of the images in this one just felt totally necessary and purposeful and very often I was moved just by a simple cut.

I’ve been checked out on Terry even though I love everything pre-To the Wonder unreservedly. This is probably enough to make me go see this today.

I was half joking about its length, but, really, I get what you mean, ryan, by how scene for scene the film impressed its theosophy, but by the two-hour mark its banality also wore me down. Malick still thinks wives and children romping through the fields is paradise lost?

I know what you mean, but I actually think there's not a lot of romping? There is, however, a lot of toiling. I don't think I've seen so much manual labor in a movie in a long time...it's constant (and weirdly mesmerizing).

And I think a lot of the malicky stuff in the town (which, again, for me felt different...those shots of the moutanins aren't "aw" they're like that shot of the bison in To the Wonder...the strangeness!)...is necessary to set off against, say, the empty prison montage with the anguished roving camera searching for light and space, which felt like a high point.

I freely admit I may have been in the right mood for this movie! Which often happens with Malick.

In any case, while mileage with Malick may vary, I felt grateful he's around, that this movie exists...because no one else can do this quite like he does.

Also quite appreciated how maddening and mystifying Jaggerstatter's (sp?) beatific stubbornness was, the seeming gratuitous senselessness of it being the whole point-. "You'll be free if you sign this." "But I am free."

he's Melvillean.

I thought this was riveting and incredibly moving. Probably my favorite of his since The Thin Red Line.

― ryan, Saturday, December 21, 2019 1:07 AM (eleven hours ago)

ok, I'm sold. I was disappointed brody didn't like it because we tend to be on the same page about malick

ryan why do I remember you loving TTW

I did love it! That's one I'll really go to bat for. Probably went on about it in this very thread but I won't look since seeing my old posts makes me feel like Adam Driver on Terry Gross.

I also admired Knight of Cups but definitely felt "done" with that approach and did not see Song to Song. Wasn't even that interested in this but Nick Pinkerton's essay on it piqued my interest.

I do think set and setting are important for Malick consumption. But I dunno I'll have to figure out why this worked so well for me. It has a bit of that quality of TTRL where there feels like there's another movie going on off camera but on a much larger scale. I found myself wondering how their donkey and cow were doing.

sorry, a much *smaller* scale than TTRL

I wonder if Paul Schrader would hate this like he did with Song to Song.

he's Melvillean.

took me a minute to realize what you meant but this is a brilliant observation

MF Doom and Madlib?

Bartleby!

yep

I really liked this but it definitely felt like almost an hour too long. Found my mind wandering off in the last third. Think the two leads (and those kids!) were perfect, glad he didn’t stick marquee names in there. More than a few moments that really fucking struck. The village and mountain vista were almost enough to justify a movie on their own, stunning but alien and surreal in a way, as Ryan suggested above.

Still can’t help but think this would have been something greater if it was more concise. But idk, this was good. I’m glad he’s still capable of doing this.

saw this today and agree completely with that post

I was also struck by the amount of physical toiling in this movie: in the first half, as ryan notes, the labor that seems incessant -- I thought it was notable that on the screen franz and his wife are constantly at work, even when speaking to each other or to others, really emphasizing the the toll that their chosen path takes on their bodies and their minds. and in the second half, the violence.

good point

The length, and arguable repetitiveness, will really be a sticking point for many, I think. I was locked in for some reason. I loved those long fades to black that punctuated the movements of the film. And, I think this is true of all his later films but the rhythm of the editing was really wonderful this time. There's something he does that feels musical, not repeating the same exact shots but a kind of repeated motif of relationships between shots, that reminds of a musical theme coming up again and again in different registers throughout a symphony or something. Hard to take it all in on one viewing but the shot of a doorway followed by a wide vista is one I noticed that occurred a few times. But the sublimity of repetition can be super subjective.

I was also happy with the leads...really hope he can avoid using stars in the future...though I wonder how many movies he has left.

Also yes the kids! The little blonde one with curls...when the mother was kissing her goodnight and she gives this totally disarming grin...I feel like Malick must have leapt up in the air when that happened.

def better than the last two

also should have its own thread like many worse new films do

There's something he does that feels musical, not repeating the same exact shots but a kind of repeated motif of relationships between shots

Thinking the same thing... symphonic

I read more than one review of “to the wonder” that described is as a ballet, yes

I liked this one. The length is appropriate to convey the obstinance and weight of his choice. And for everyone who complained about Malick's twirling women, here's lots of grueling manual labor.

I'll also remember that news of Kobe Bryant's death broke right as this was starting and I found out while walking out 3 hours later.

I still think about this one a lot. Had a chance to see it a third time in the theater and almost went for it, since I don't know if seeing on anything less than a giant screen will be the same, but it was sold out. They had a special screening here in Austin, where it's been out of theaters for weeks. Half thought the man himself might show up!

this is so good:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/08/14/the-unbearable-toward-an-antifascist-aesthetic/