I don't love him, but I do like him. Yeah. I've read White Noise, Libra, Mao II and Cosmopolis. He's a strange figure for me though. I laugh both with him and at him.
Overeducated sports writers log
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IdleRich
IdleRich
Yeah Tree of Life doesn't even get hold of you enough to bore.
As for cinematography; yeah it's fine but you really think Tarkovsky, Paradjanov, German etc don't come close?
IdleRich
IdleRich
He's no Zulawski though
And in this respect he is waaaaaaay behind Alexei German.
sus
Moderator
Yeah there are two stances with Malick, which are yours, and then that Badlands kinda sucks and Days of Heaven is him starting to figure it out and everything gets better from there. Then, if you're soft, you opt out with his American decadence films, rather than doubling down on them.
sus
Moderator
I've seen like every one of these cuts in a million movies before, their movement is exactly what you'd expect. There's no sensibility, no energy, just movement.
WashYourHands
Cat Malogen
What little time I have has now been extended to rewatch this again. Ta for the heads up.
IdleRich
IdleRich
No way. Zulawski no energy? I've NEVER heard anyone say that. Cos it would be silly.
Lots of it done without a rail, just the camera operator with an amazingly steady hand.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Have you seen his other stuff?
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I hesitated to include it with his first three because, as I said, it's where he begins to tip into self-parody
but it's also a strange and deeply beautiful film that is really like nothing else
the images will always be there in a Malick film - the opening and closing montages, Smith wading around in swamp in his armor, etc
but it's really Pocahontas that gives its emotional heft - the shift to her in its second half is crucial
I could do without yet another romanticization of her relationship with John Smith
but Malick properly situates her as a key liminal figure, both literally and symbolically, in American history
I can think of very few, if any, other films, that do as much to convey that sense of the alien, of otherness
some of it comes across ridiculous, heavy-handed but it's a tone poem, you kind of just have to go with it. it's very easy to laugh at things
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
one can really think of his first four films as both tapping into and deconstructing the myth of America as boundless land of endless opportunities
Badlands and Days of Heaven are obvious
The Thin Red Line is a based on a (great) novel by a WWII veteran that deconstructs unreflexive mythmaking i.e. Saving Private Ryan
The New World is an earlier version of that myth, America as prelapsarian Eden, a more naive but also rapacious myth
there's the literal, heavy-handed deconstruction - colonists starving as they dig for gold and so on
Pocahontas is the more ambiguous deconstruction of what American identity is, as the reality of a land is itself ambiguous and always changing
Badlands and Days of Heaven are obvious
The Thin Red Line is a based on a (great) novel by a WWII veteran that deconstructs unreflexive mythmaking i.e. Saving Private Ryan
The New World is an earlier version of that myth, America as prelapsarian Eden, a more naive but also rapacious myth
there's the literal, heavy-handed deconstruction - colonists starving as they dig for gold and so on
Pocahontas is the more ambiguous deconstruction of what American identity is, as the reality of a land is itself ambiguous and always changing
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
of course if someone thinks its boring and terrible, that's fine
but I'm also not cowed by your amazement that someone should disagree with you, Rich
but I'm also not cowed by your amazement that someone should disagree with you, Rich
luka
Well-known member
Suspended Reason is 19 years old. He hasn't had time to watch many films so go easy on the lad. Our job is to build him up and educate him not to tear him down. We are his wise tutors and mentors.
IdleRich
IdleRich
And there was me hoping to browbeat you into submission...
IdleRich
IdleRich
In fairness, I can't remember why I hated the New World so much, I merely remember the sort of cringey embarrassed feeling I got for everyone involved. I don't think I made it to the end which is extremely rare for me unless actually interrupted. But I can't really offer much of a considered criticism.
The later ones I've seen more recently, such as Tree of Life, I hate because on the surface they seem so much like all the stuff I like, but with nothing else there. A kind of music video that thinks it's Tarkovsky and thus ultimately fails even as a video of pretty pictures. I read the reviews of everyone saying how boring they are and I think "philistines" and then I watch them and I have to admit that the critics aren't philistines at all, they're just really boring films.
The later ones I've seen more recently, such as Tree of Life, I hate because on the surface they seem so much like all the stuff I like, but with nothing else there. A kind of music video that thinks it's Tarkovsky and thus ultimately fails even as a video of pretty pictures. I read the reviews of everyone saying how boring they are and I think "philistines" and then I watch them and I have to admit that the critics aren't philistines at all, they're just really boring films.