Terrence Malick's Disciples
yalereview.org
yalereview.org
And from his disciples definitely recommend Zvyagintsev and his The Return and Leviathan.
German's "Khrustalyov, My Car!" is also the purest cinematic distilation of paranoia I have ever seen.
I completely understand why your average moviegoer (is there such a group of people any more?) would walk out of his movies.
When Thin Red Line came out (1998) I saw it a few times in the theaters, then Saving Private Ryan came out about the same year, and I remember having interesting debates with my friends about which one was a "better" war movie. It was this perfect A/B study. They found Thin Red Line completely boring and terrible: no main hero, one who is sort of the main character dies senselessly in the end (well he sacrificed himself, but it wasn't with any sense of bravado or anything). And my point was, that's kind how war is: there are no heroes and people die senselessly and often stupidly, and there is a lot of boredom and sitting around waiting, too.
> This kind of earnestness stood out in an age of relentless irony and snark.
That's why I like him. And to be fair, I am the first one to enjoy relentless irony and snark, but on a deeper level I realize it's also unhealthy and often is an escape from something terrible or a way of distancing from what's happening, so when something more honest and authentic some about, I pay attention.
The Thin Red Line had some good moments, but it clearly came together in the editing room--but in the end, it came together only somewhat and weakly. He had hours of scattered footage (famously, a couple of major characters/actors had 90% of their planned screening time reduced in the final release), and in the editing room, he was trying to make sense of it, but unsuccessfully. What somebody interpreted as genius, I saw as disorganization, poor planning, and imprecise editing.
Well, someone may say, when talking about The Thin Red Line, that's what war is: confusing, boring most of the time, very violent in bursts. But that is akin to saying that life is mostly about eating and using the bathroom and doing pedestrian stuff and cleaning counters. But most of us, and not because we are simpletons, don't go to movies to see actors doing chores. It might be for others, but not for me.
Absolutely he is very much a snobbery magnet. Same as Tarkovsky.
The reasons I like him: I like the visual style, the poetic narrative structure, and the cinematographic techniques: camera work, lighting, etc. The second part I think is what trips up most people. Not many people like poetry nowadays. I can only think of two people in my circle of acquaintances and both were English majors, one is an English teacher. So it's a bit like that with films -- to some people it looks like disjointed random scenes that don't make sense, to someone else it looks like visual poetry.
> But most of us, and not because we are simpletons, don't go to movies to see actors doing chores. It might be for others, but not for me.
That's a perfectly fine view of cinema. I think most of it should be that way. If people pay their hard earned money to see something, it should be something they'd enjoy and not random disjoined scenes that don't make sense. That's why folks like Malick are a director's director. It's someone who film makers look up to, but not someone the majority of filmgoers would recognize or appreciate much, and for good reasons either way.
Obligatory mention of that iconic low-angle shot of The Mother floating gracefully across the plains. One of the best of all time.
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?
Badlands is his first movie and is very approachable.
The New World is also very approachable but can be long for some people. Personally, it's one of my all time favorite movies.and worth every minute.
Then you have The Thin Red Line and The New World, which to me feel like a transitional period between the more conventional films and The Tree of Life, which is the first film that is characterized through and through by Malick's extremely divisive style. I personally love The Thin Red Line, but I can see why it's not for everyone. (I would skip The New World.) All later films have a very recognizable style, for which I think The Tree of Life is the best starting point.
Long story short: I'd start with Badlands, then watch The Thin Red Line, then The Tree of Life. If you like the last one, watch any of his later films.
When I saw it the first time, I was so awestruck by the breathtaking cinematography and the incredible music, but even more so by the vision of it all. I had simply never seen anything like it.
I saw it another 4 times before it left theaters.