Re: FAMOUS DIRECTORS CHECKLIST SERIES - Volume #131 - The Films of TERRENCE MALICK
Seen: 4
Own: 3
Ranked (stars out of four):
The New World ****
The Thin Red Line ****
Days of Heaven ****
Badlands ****
Clearly the wait is worth it... Malick doesn't make another movie unless he thinks he can improve on the old one.
The Thin Red Line and Eyes Wide Shut tie for the best American film of the '90s, in my book.
Days of Heaven is one of the most-referenced films by filmmakers in existence. You can hardly turn on a commentary track any more without hearing a Malick name-drop. (Zach Braff on Garden State? You're kidding?)
Badlands is more influential than people know, and damn if it isn't one of the best "killer couple on the lam" movie out there, up there with Bonnie & Clyde... and waaay ahead of Natural Born Killers, True Romance and Kalifornia, among the countless other knockoffs.
The New World is a staggering, staggering film -- or, as Wim Wenders called it, a "monster"; it's one of his favorite films ever. Maybe it's not a movie that audiences enjoy, but it's importance to other artists is immeasurable. Like Days of Heaven, this movie will only grow in stature until it becomes utterly synonymous with "cinematography". As a narrative it's Malick's most ambitious film; formally and emotionally profound, it's his greatest all-around achievement.
It's a bit painful that his movies are so despised - Malick's career echoes Kubrick's and Orson Welles's. Misunderstood, resented for being challenging and intellectually superior to his audience, it's easy to see why his films are hated, but also a shame. His films are more rewarding than any other filmmaker alive, at home or abroad.
I'd bet my life that 100 years from now, Malick is considered one of the ten greatest directors ever to pick up a camera.