In Terrence Malick’s latest…thing, he turns his abstract eye
on Hollywood and its hollow disposition.
A man (Christian Bale (Shaft
(2000)), movie producer I’m guessing, floats from one relationship to another
because that’s just what he does. What
is it really all about and mean? I
haven’t a fuckin’ clue. But that’s sorta
why I like Malick’s films so much. You
get whatever you want out of them. Wanna
feel enlightened, depressed, think the characters are going on an eloquent
journey, think everyone’s drifting aimlessly?
It’s all up for interpretation.
You can dig deep to figure out the meaning behind everything or you can
take what’s presented on the surface (honestly this is mostly the approach I
take) and still get something out of the experience either way.
What makes Malick’s pictures fascinating is that it’s a
total experiment. Every actor who’s
worked with him describes the shoot like nothing they’ve ever done before. It’s almost a workshop where the interaction
itself and being “in the moment” are more important than what’s on the
page. Knight of Cups went to the extreme though because there was no
script and the actors didn’t even know what the movie was about. I mean shit, this is beyond improvisation
where at least you have an idea of what you’re going for or an end goal that
you need to achieve. For this one it was
totally wide open. Really with the
exception of the narration, which you could argue is superfluous, it’s
essentially a wacky silent picture (however the score is gorgeous by the way).
It’s amazing how coherent Malick’s movies come out in
general but this one is a goddamn miracle.
His movies are ballsy as shit and it seems that his balls have only
grown bigger over the years. Each one
feels like they’re getting farther and farther from any sort of narrative and simply
becoming a series of images that loosely tie together.
In the past Malick has fetishized natural beauty with endless
pictures of grass, beaches, mountains, trees, wind, humans, etc. But with this one he finally comes around to
man-made wonders like skyscrapers, casinos, vibrant lighting, art, fountains,
mansions, etc. And since he has such a
mixture of both natural and man-made images (including many unflattering shots
of human civilization like abandoned lots and gaudy malls) I don’t get the
impression that he’s looking down on the man-made stuff. There seems to be equal amazement and even
respect at what we have created for ourselves to live and interact with.
On paper the idea for this picture sounds like it shouldn’t
work at all but for me it mostly does. I
liked it better than To the Wonder
and The Tree of Life (the outer space
shit notwithstanding (I can’t fuckin’ wait for The Voyage of Time which is supposed to be 90 mins of just
that)). This is a different beast than
those two though. I think the narrative
is more open to interpretation and there’s pretty much no skeletal structure
for “scenes” to hang on. Plus this is
one of the most visually stunning films I’ve ever seen and that plays a more
important role here because the storytelling is more optical than in previous
works.
Malick’s style of filmmaking is gonna rub a lot, and I mean
a helluva lot, of people the wrong way.
I totally get that. This is not
for everyone. Actually I don’t know who
this is supposed to be for. It truly
feels like Malick makes these movies for himself alone and if someone else
happens to dig it then it’s a happy accident.
It’s so weird because he’s like a mythical figure in the film world,
like he doesn’t even exist. You never
see him, you never hear from him. He
just makes these pieces and moves on to the next project, never paying any
mind.
But folks out there astonishingly keep giving him money to
make his pictures and huge actors clamor to work with him. It’s pretty damn strange how high profile his
shit is considering how abstruse it is.
I know I’m not alone in appreciating the man’s work but it’s very
surprising how not alone I am.
Alright, I’ll make a deal with you Terry, if you keep making
‘em I’ll keep watching ‘em.
No comments:
Post a Comment