Trivia:
Had its world premiere on March 10th, 2017 at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, where most of the feature was shot. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 4/10
First off, I must say I am not a Terrence Malick hater. On the
contrary: I used to worship the man. I even took an entire course in
film school dedicated to him, Orson Welles, and Stanley Kubrick. I
think the 5 films Malick did in the first 38 years of his career
("Badlands," "Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line," "The New World,"
and "The Tree of Life") are all masterpieces. I even liked "To the
Wonder," which was almost universally panned, even though it was
clearly not in the same league as his previous films. After the
acclaimed "The Tree of Life," Malick (now 73 years old) has been
working on several projects in different stages of production. He
filmed "Song to Song" immediately after "Knight of Cups" (released last
year) back in 2012, and it's only being released now, as a 129-minute
film, after almost five years of post-production and at least 8 editors
to turn it into something remotely coherent (reportedly, the first cut
was 8 hours long). Unfortunately, like "Knight of Cups," "Song to Song"
feels like a parody of Malick's work: the extensive, mumbling
voice-over narration by all the main characters (taken to the extreme),
the stunning imagery of nature and high-end real estate, and gorgeous
people literally walking in circles and acting cute (or mean) to one
another. The very thin plot revolves, as you heard, around two
intersecting love triangles set against the music scene in Austin,
Texas. But music doesn't play a great part in this story, and it
certainly could have elevated it.
As abstract as Malick's earlier films could be, they all had tangible,
rich, philosophical and often universal themes. "Knight of Cups" and
"Song to Song" are pure cinematic masturbation. Malick's trick is
getting some of the biggest (and best-looking) film stars in the world,
and his main actors (Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender,
Natalie Portman) have faces that one can easily watch for hours. But
not even these great stars can masquerade the emptiness of the film.
Mara has the most screen time of them all, being the only true leading
character here, while Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Val Kilmer, and
Berenice Marlohe are reduced to cameos. There's at least one painfully
genuine moment, near the end, featuring Hunter's character, but it only
lasts a few seconds; Malick's gaze isn't interested in her emotions.
He'd rather show us, for the umpteenth time, Mara and Fassbender being
flirty and sexy instead.
I am all about experimental cinema, but when you realize that this is
the deepest sort of "experimental" project that Hollywood can put out
(made by a revered auteur that movie stars almost pay to work with),
you feel even more nostalgic for the daring collaborations between
Tilda Swinton and the late Derek Jarman. I know people who deemed
"Knight of Cups" a "masterpiece" and will probably say the same about
"Song to Song." I try to be respectful of other people's opinions, but
I really don't think we're seeing this film through the same lens. I
still admire and respect Malick; I just liked his work more when he had
something to say. Right now, I see him as someone who can afford to
make gorgeous-looking home movies just for his pleasure, but he's a
much more interesting artist when he expands his canvas into something
we can truly care about.
0