WRITER'S NOTE: The following is a collection of reviews posted on my Instagram account (@be.kerian) throughout the past twelve months. They’ve been organized--and will be posted--by specific categories, in chronological order based on initial (theatrical) release dates, and have been slightly edited.
Today's profile covers roughly the first half of the career of one of our most radical, challenging, and poetic filmmakers.
Badlands (1973)
The debut feature film of legendary and enigmatic auteur Terrence Malick. An intriguing but provocative take on the Charles Starkweather killing spree of the late 1950s, four things caught my attention right away: the stunning cinematography (set in Texas, impressionistic and almost folk-like), George Tipton's offbeat score, and the performances of a young Martin Sheen (emulating James Dean) and Sissy Spacek (three years before she immortalized Stephen King's Carrie) as a young couple on the run from authorities across the American landscape. The use of Spacek's engrossing voiceover narration and Billy Weber's stream-of-conscious editing juxtaposed with a shocking true story is strange and haunting to say the least, considering the complex thematic undertones of nature, humanity and adolescence involved. Malick (known to have a very private life) makes an extremely rare appearance, as a yellow hat-wearing architect. (4/12/2021)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Having now officially seen Terrence Malick's impressive-yet-provocative 1973 debut feature film Badlands, I found his 1978 sophomoric follow-up to be a more challenging piece to wrap my head around. Sure, it features standout and breakthrough performances from Richard Gere and late playwright Sam Shepard (plus intriguing narration from a young Linda Manz), as well as striking cinematography by Nestor Almendros with Haskell Wexler and John Bailey (the eponymous house was a real practical set) and a haunting score by the legendary Ennio Morricone (incorporating the "Aquarium" movement from Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals"). On the other hand, its unconventional narrative and impressionistic tone (with a story set against turn-of-the-century labor, a central love triangle, spiritual elements like a plague of locusts, and a tragic American idyll) requires more than one viewing, not to mention deep philosophical conversations (generally the case with Malick). I can only imagine what those conversations in the editing room were like. Days of Heaven is, perhaps, the one film from the 1970s, other than Stanley Kubrick's 1975 period drama Barry Lyndon, to use such distinct naturalism. (4/20/2021)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
After being out of the Hollywood scene for two decades, Malick made a surprise return to the director's chair with this stirring and challenging adaptation of James Jones' 1962 novel centered on the WWII battle for Guadalcanal. Boasting an incredible ensemble cast (with standout performances from Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, and Elias Koteas--voice over narration comes from various characters throughout the story as well), this is one of the most unique war films I've ever seen. Considering it was released the same year as Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, Malick's film is more impressionistic and philosophical by comparison, with themes on life, death, violence and war, nature, and eternity; not to mention stunning, poetic imagery (as is common with Malick's filmography, and with support from Hans Zimmer's haunting and ethereal score).
TRIVIAL FACT: Several A-list actors and up-and-coming stars auditioned for the film and even initially had supporting roles (from Martin Sheen to Billy Bob Thorton, Lukas Haas, and Mickey Rourke), but their respective scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Only a few of these scenes can be found on the Criterion bluray and DVD editions. (7/20/2021)
The New World (2005)
Terrence Malick's singular take on the Virginia Company's voyage to America and their settlement in Jamestown in the early-1600s may be one of the acclaimed director's most overlooked films. Centered primarily on the relationship between Captain John Smith (a superbly-restrained Colin Farrell) and Powatan tribe daughter Pocahontas (a revelatory debut from Q'orianka Kilcher), as well as the latter's subsequent journey to England, the film is thoroughly meditative in its ever-changing period setting, with themes of love, war, nature, spirituality, and colonization. It slows down in its second act (especially in the extended cut), while the apparent and significant age difference in the central romance will be off-putting for more discerning viewers. Those elements notwithstanding, the experience is uncompromising, complete with a stellar supporting cast (Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi), Emmanuel Lubezki's stunning cinematography, and Jack Fisk's genuine production design.
TRIVIAL FACT #1: For the Criterion edition, three versions of this film exist: an extended cut (170 min, with specific chapter titles), the first cut (150 min.), and the theatrical cut (135 min.). If I had to go with one version--and since I've recently been invested in "director's cuts" and artistic integrity vs. studio interference--it would be the 150-minute one.
TRIVIAL FACT #2: This is the first of Malick's films to include opening credits since 1978's Days of Heaven, complete with background illustrations. (7/27/2021)
The Tree of Life (2011)
Terrence Malick has made some very unconventional films in his fifty-plus years as a writer-director. But perhaps no project in his filmography is more ambitious or challenging as his 2011 Palme D'Or-winning drama The Tree of Life. Juxtaposing the creation of the universe (a visually stunning sequence, to be sure) and a family in 1950s Texas, the centerpiece of Tree of Life poetically and provocatively embodies nature and grace, love and hate, innocence and rebellion, physical life and the afterlife. The experience may be experimental--and will easily try the patience of more traditional viewers--but it's also thoroughly meditative, sensory, and personal/subjective. The use of practical, groundbreaking special effects in the aforementioned sequence (with consultation from effects veteran Douglas Trumbell), along with Emmanuel Lubezki's captivating cinematography and Jessica Chastain's breakout performance as the family matriarch, have helped make this one of the most acclaimed (and divisive) films of the 21st Century.
TRIVIAL FACT #1: Like The New World, the Criterion edition of The Tree of Life contains both the theatrical cut and an extended version (featuring fifty minutes of new footage), as well as an intriguing supplemental feature where music critic Alex Ross discusses Malick's unconventional use of classical music in his films.
TRIVIAL FACT #2: If there are at least two images from this film that stand out, they include Chastain gently catching a butterfly and Pitt holding out his baby boy's feet. (8/10/2021)
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