Terrence Malick's Disciples
yalereview.org55 points by prismatic 3 hours ago
55 points by prismatic 3 hours ago
Malick is also unique in that while I love his work, I understand anyone who can't get into them and finds them dull or pretentious. It's as if some people are tuned to his frequency and others just receive white noise. When you're tuned to it, it's a timeless meditative, spiritual experience. Our wedding bands carry the words of the Tree of Life's 'Mrs. O'Brien': 'Unless you love, your life will flash by'. I hope he can finish 'The Way of the Wind' in times for Cannes this year.
I see Malick in a lot but similarly I see Tarkovsky in a lot of overlapping movies. I don’t think Americans are as attuned to Tarkovskys influence on modern film. I definitely recommend Stalker as an amazing film.
I would also recommend his movie Andrei Rublev, though that is probably even harder to watch because of the length and medieval setting; but, for people that like to see something different, this is very different to current movies.
And from his disciples definitely recommend Zvyagintsev and his The Return and Leviathan.
If you liked Andrei Rublev, you should check out Alexei German's adaptation of the Strugatsky brothers "Hard to Be a God." It's insane, gorgeous, disgusting, teetering on the edge of madness, and monumental.
German's "Khrustalyov, My Car!" is also the purest cinematic distilation of paranoia I have ever seen.
"Disciples", but seemingly without back and forth feedback from the "teacher". Many happy to ride on the coattails of his reputation, though. This particular style might also be attractive to new film-makers because it allows them to dispense with learning the basics of traditional film language.
Tree Of Life is nothing short of a masterpiece IMO. Influential on me personally as my first exposure to how much editing and structure (or lack thereof) build directorial style. It left an impression on me to feel so much for a film that explicitly says so little.
Obligatory mention of that iconic low-angle shot of The Mother floating gracefully across the plains. One of the best of all time.
I should give Malick another shot. I love film, but only first tried him when I was much younger (Thin Red Line) and don’t think I really got it.
Never tried Tree of Life or any of his more recent stuff.
Got any recommendations in the first 2-3 of his you’d suggest?
best malick movie that wasn't a malick movie i saw recently was "here".
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