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Wheelz 
"FWFR%u2019ing like it%u2019s 1999"
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 Posted - 02/22/2012 : 14:39:40
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I have to ask, where is the line between bold, visionary art cinema and pretentious crap? Because wherever it is, Malick wandered over it repeatedly, and found his way back one time too few.
I found the sequences with the family to be highly engaging, engrossing even. This was unconventional storytelling to be sure, with minimal dialogue, artsy cinematography and jumpy editing, but that part of the film really worked for me, enough so that I was even willing to buy into the whole extended creation-of-the-universe sequence leading up to it.
(Remember the line from Airplane?
"Johnny, tell me everything that's happened so far!"
"Well, first, the Earth cooled. Then, the dinosaurs came!"
That was a joke, Terence!)
But then with about, what, 20 minutes left (I lost track of time), the whole thing just ran off the rails and never came back.
And before anybody claims that I just didn't get it... please. Malick was clubbing us over the head with his themes. The thing is, you can present your themes while also developing character and plot elements at the same time. Or, you can stop your film dead in its tracks by vomiting a bunch of visual snippets onto the screen to make a point that you don't trust your audience to glean from the story you're telling. It's supposed to come across as very deep and thoughtful, and those viewers who "get it" get to feel like they're smart. Sorry, no. There was nothing subtle about this.
A shame, really, because there was definitely something of value there. I really wanted what I did like about it to be able to redeem what I didn't, but in the end it just couldn't.
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Edited by - Wheelz on 02/22/2012 19:33:33 |
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Tree of Life
