Malick's genius is his poetry. He is not a storyteller.
If you are able to grok cinema as a spiritual tone-poem then you dig him, otherwise you will hate him.
The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
41–49 of 49 posts
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
His movies may be "artsy" but he had a big influence on cinema. I watched Badlands for the first time a couple of years ago and I kept having to remind myself that it was made in 1973, not 1993 or 2003. It just seems like a film that's out of place in time, but that seems to be because it influenced later films.
> His movies may be "artsy" but he had a big influence on cinema Of course, that's why all the movie directors and actors and people who are into film like him. But take a person off the street and put in front of a Malick movie and don't be surprised if they walk out. Someone in the sibling threads said that much. But yeah, I watched The Thin Red Line in the cinema twice when it came out, but also acknowledge that I…
The taste of the general public is not a good meter for the quality of literally anything. The ability of a artwork to grip a person is important, but what many people do not realize is that it can be at times nearly arbitrary who is impacted by a piece of art and who isn't.
Artsy films like that may not get the populus into the cinemas and entertain them in a bread and games way, but them not trying to do that is exactly the reason they have the ability to hit deeper (if you let them).
In his memoires the soviet director Andrey Tarkovsky describes and quotes from letters regular people wrote about his films, many of which have been deeply moved. Films that make Terrence Malick look like mainstream and can be a tough watch if you go into them with the wrong energy.
Yet I remember his film Stalker striking a chord within me I didn't even know existed and you can't say this of many films.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#43I watched Tree of Life in the cinema. I was spellbound. It spoke directly to me, no mental processing of a story, I was tuned to this film. I didn't feel its time. As the film ended a girl behind me said to her friends 'this was the biggest piece of shit I have ever seen'. I understood her and it was a perfectly fine opinion. She didn't 'get it', but it didn't have to do with taste or intelligence or anything like th…
The Tree of Life was one of the only films I’ve ever considered walking out of, I hated every moment of it. I’m delighted to hear you were spellbound by it.
That’s totally valid. I think the film either resonates deeply or not at all, and both responses are completely legitimate. I can absolutely see how it could feel pretentious drivel to some. I assume for me it directly evokes emotions of my childhood (catholic upbringing by a loving mother).
I also really appreciate you being happy for me. That's true empathy.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#44I still remember seeing The Tree of Life in theaters. What an incredible experience that was.
I have to say that I'm jealous. I hope I get the same opportunity. His films are so moving to me. In the way that life itself moves.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#45I watched Tree of Life in the cinema. I was spellbound. It spoke directly to me, no mental processing of a story, I was tuned to this film. I didn't feel its time. As the film ended a girl behind me said to her friends 'this was the biggest piece of shit I have ever seen'. I understood her and it was a perfectly fine opinion. She didn't 'get it', but it didn't have to do with taste or intelligence or anything like th…
The Tree of Life was one of the only films I’ve ever considered walking out of, I hated every moment of it. I’m delighted to hear you were spellbound by it.
I actually walked out of it. I was not alone, several others did before me.
I saw it without knowing what it was about, it was a summer evening, I was alone and just decided to see a movie as I passed the theatre.
When I came home and learned it was the same director as the Thin Red Line, I was blown away. Same director of both the best and the worst movie I have seen.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#46I watched Tree of Life in the cinema. I was spellbound. It spoke directly to me, no mental processing of a story, I was tuned to this film. I didn't feel its time. As the film ended a girl behind me said to her friends 'this was the biggest piece of shit I have ever seen'. I understood her and it was a perfectly fine opinion. She didn't 'get it', but it didn't have to do with taste or intelligence or anything like th…
I know what you mean, I had the same effect from the David Lynch Dune movie. I went in blind, had no idea what I was about to see other than that it was scifi. Put it on and didn't even make it to a chair before I was spellbound. I stood for the whole movie, feeling as if ages had passed while I was rooted to the ground like a mountain watching seasons pass in stop motion. I've watched it maybe 6 times since, nothing…
I love it too, I actually decided to never read the book because all the book readers I have talked to hated it.
Highly recommend the upscaled to 4k fan edit on YouTube. They splice in lost footage that was cut from Lynch’s initial edit.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#47Like the first line says, he is probably the least known famous director. That is, he is not an activist and not flashy, doesn't make a lot of movies, and the general public simply doesn't know about him. But all the other movie directors and famous actors know him and kind of idolize him. When Thin Red Line came out in 1998 he hadn't done a movie since 1978 (Days of Heaven) and yet he snagged all the famous actors t…
I saw it in the theatre and “what sort of animal is man?” has been one of my stock phrases ever since.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#48It’s fun to rewatch Days of Heaven once you’ve unlocked that each of the main characters is tied to a different element (earth, wind, fire, and water). That he could employ such a straightforward and have it all work so well is still astonishing to me. A nearly perfect film.
Re: The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know what you mean, I had the same effect from the David Lynch Dune movie. I went in blind, had no idea what I was about to see other than that it was scifi. Put it on and didn't even make it to a chair before I was spellbound. I stood for the whole movie, feeling as if ages had passed while I was rooted to the ground like a mountain watching seasons pass in stop motion. I've watched it maybe 6 times since, nothing…
I love it too, I actually decided to never read the book because all the book readers I have talked to hated it. Highly recommend the upscaled to 4k fan edit on YouTube. They splice in lost footage that was cut from Lynch’s initial edit. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=faHQA_0d9Mo
The book is fine. I saw the movie before the book and there are some obvious changes but nothing so terrible that it ruins anything.