🎬 #167 The Two Terrys.
This week we've got two Terrence/Terry Malick films. One from the vein of Terrence Malick which is much more, well, a little more structured and one which is a lot looser, a lot more improvisational in feel. It's really interesting if you look at both of them and see the evolution from pre-2000 to post-2000 Terrence Malick. I really hope you enjoy these films and talk to you again soon.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: KNIGHT OF CUPS
2015 Dir Terrence Malick
1 hr 58 mins
I'm not gonna lie; it took me two or three attempts to watch "Knight of Cups." I think I was expecting too much of a traditional plot because I was going off of what the trailer had promised. But after switching my mindset and letting the film do its own thing, I really enjoyed it in the modern Malick sense. It's more of a film to appreciate the way you might appreciate an album - you play it, you kind of inhabit its space and its mood for the duration. You don't necessarily deconstruct or follow along with the plot beat by beat; it's more of an atmospheric film experience.
It's trademark Malick - wide lenses, poetic framing, and loose camera movement that feels improvised. Christian Bale kind of anchors the whole thing; he's this guy, adrift in his world (just as the camera work feels adrift) meditatively moving between all these experiences. It's beautifully performed, beautifully shot, and imagined. It's really a film to bask in the feeling of the world it creates.
The energy of the film captures that early morning, after the party feeling, a sense of a character not wanting the fun to end. The sense that anything can happen and that's what he's looking for - surprise, he's looking for something more. But he realises that he could live his whole life like this and still not get what he’s searching for. The whole film has that feeling - the feeling of the search, the feeling of needing more, not being satisfied with everything you've already got.
The fact that it's set in California, in Hollywood, and the central character played by Christian Bale is a writer, it all emphasises that theme of wanting, in spite of what you have. There's a sense of the insatiable about it. The locations are kind of perfect, blue sky, perfect skin, perfect clothes. Everything is stylish and very ‘want-able,’ and it all adds to this experience of this man looking and not finding, he doesn't really know even what that something is. There’s a purposeful lack of focus and direction to the story, so you feel what he is feeling. If you can stay with it and take it as it is, it’s a very experiential, mood-filled film.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: Although the script was reportedly 400-600 pages long, all of the scenes were improvised, and Christian Bale said that none of the actors involved knew exactly what the film was about.
FILM TWO: THE THIN RED LINE
1998 Dir Terrence Malick
2 hrs 50 mins
If you think of the words ‘Malick’ and ‘war film’ that's exactly what The Thin Red Line is. This kind of poetic meditation on the brutality of war. What it means to be a single human amongst this machine, designed to kill and capture territory and win battles. It's very Malick, sweeping crane shots over long grass flowing in the wind, but unlike post 2000 Malick it's got much more structure to it. It's got (and I don't mean this in a bad way or a good way, it's just the way it is) it's got a lot more story to it. It's much more in the vein of a ‘traditional war film’ in the sense that it explores themes that war films explore.
There's a huge ensemble cast and there's a direction to it, there's a palpable, compelling story and yet it's told in a very Terrence Malick way, namely contemplative. It’s beautifully shot by the cinematographer John Toll, going from the intimate to expansive, even the violent moments have a sense of wonder to them. It's an epic, mindful film, asking big questions. What does it mean to be human and what does that mean in the theatre of war. It's a really, really powerful experience. Hans Zimmer’s score elevates the visuals even more and complements the amazing performances. I mean every actor you can imagine in that time period is in the film, and each of them delivers. If you've seen it, I recommend you have a lovely rewatch of it and if you haven't seen it, well sit back and enjoy Terrence Malick doing a war film.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: This film marks Terrence Malick's return to filmmaking after a twenty-year absence.