 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yesterday, I watched TRL for the third time; the first on a high-end home theater system.
Like ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, this film gets better every time you watch it. In fact, you must see it more than once to grasp the complexities and beauties of this masterwork. And, again like OUTIW, the films themes deepen and resonate more strongly as one gets older.
I was lukewarm to it after my first viewing. I now consider it one the best, if not THE best, film of the nineties.
Of course, the music is absolutely essential in the film's experience.
Watch the first ten minutes: has any director ever constructed a more beautiful marriage of music, imagery, and dialog?
Faure's "Requiem", Melanaesian hymns performed by the native population and hauntingly orchestrated to form Whit"s Theme" (frustratingly not on the soundtrack); Hanz Zimmer's ambient, moving, evocations of sea and sand and time.
After Terence Malick's definitive take on the Pacific War I find myself unable to watch LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS etc.
He has made the defintive WWII epic and a film for the ages.
Check it out!
Bruce Marshall
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yesterday, I watched TRL for the third time;
Did anyone else get horrible memories of Carson Daly and horribly edited music videos when reading this sentence?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIN RED LINE a masterpiece. NEW WORLD a total bore. go figure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I too have mixed feelings about The New World. Parts of it are gorgeous and resonate deeply with me (especially the last 10 minutes), but the whole of it seems like someone took a 5 hour movie and cut it to 90 minutes.
endquote]
Which is essentially what happened, although oddly enough, the shorter cut was better reviewed than the longer cut that was released for the festivals. At the time, Malick promised that his original cut would return for DVD, but I haven't seen any sign of it. Does anyone here know of any progress on this?
Pedestrian Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Apr 27, 2007 - 9:43 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Mikhail
(Member)
|
Now that I'm back from work, I'll elaborate a little. I agree with LeHah... while the film was fairly long as it was, Malick's vision just couldn't be communicated in the time slot available, thus leaving many scenes and concepts all but completely unelaborated and confusing for many.
Also... overall, Malick seemed to be more concerned with making a beautiful piece of cinematic art than a cohesive and engaging film. The cinematography, acting, etc. were pretty impeccable, but the overall result just left me cold. Sad, because I had somewhat high hopes for the movie (I convinced my 3 sisters to see it with me).
Finally, there were *way* too many voice-overs. By about 2/3 of the way through the film, I began to be surprised when a character's lips were actually *speaking* the lines. 
I think I'll add the Thin Red Line to the queue. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ah, i knew it was on the album somewhere, i thought it was/is a great cue - but it just seemed to me that it was like a slightly different version in the film, like more pounding or something - maybe i'm just not playing it loud enough or remembering it wrong.
In the film the Zimmer music transforms into Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question". Perhaps the only "questionable" musical decision by the director.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Apr 28, 2007 - 4:45 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
JSWalsh
(Member)
|
After years of head-scratching I came to the conclusion that Malick is the New-Clothed Emperor of American directors. He hasn't made a movie I liked from start to finish--Badlands is incredible until they get into the woods, then it really bogs down for me, with only the last scene or so pulling it out. Days of Heaven is beautiful but so static, though I liked the moment when the character who dies (don't wanna spoil it for others) hits the water. Didn't like it so much when he repeated the moment in TRL.
Others here have covered TRL's flaws. I found the cameos useless, and the movie repetitive. I loved the cuts to the woman dying in bed, and much of the photography, and the moment that says what Malick then keeps repeating for a couple of hours, when soldiers are cut down and then the sun peeks out of the clouds--Man = Bad and he brutalizes nature. Okay, Terry, we get it, we GET it, can we have a plot and characters, please? I enjoyed The New World as a music video, something I can put on the tube with the sound off if I'm stuck making lots of phone calls.
I just think Malick is another in the long line of folks who need to get cure for what so many mistake for deep thought but is in reality constipation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the film the Zimmer music transforms into Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question". Perhaps the only "questionable" musical decision by the director.
Really? It seems to fit the scene nicely, especially with the flute quartet part removed from Unanswered Question... I can't see why Zimmer's cue didn't work, but it gave the composer to reuse it for the climax of THE LAST SAMURAI.
TRL is one of my favourite films. THE NEW WORLD is another. I don't think fans of one have to dislike the other - they're both the work of someone who has cinema in his blood.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I just think Malick is another in the long line of folks who need to get cure for what so many mistake for deep thought but is in reality constipation.
This is one of those forum rhetoric things that never ceases to annoy me - it seems it's never enough to say we don't like something, we have to go the next step and indulge in what seems to be learned condesension, but draws on the most juvenile of metaphors. You'd already made your point - did you have to offend everyone who likes the filmmaker's thoughts too?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well said, Franz.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
