Top 5: Terrence Malick Films
Ripe with philosophical and spiritual overtones and generally driven by meditative voice-overs, Terrence Malick’s films are certainly a challenge, playing more like rich, lyrical (and often overly long) poems, than they do traditional narratives. This has led to his work being simultaneously lauded for their cinematography and aesthetics, while also being criticized for their lack of plot and character development. He’s a filmmaker who ventured off the beaten path to arrive on his own unique style, which he’s rigorously and uncompromisingly been building on and tinkering with since his debut, Badlands. Though his body of work certainly invites polarizing opinions, we think Terrence Malick is one of the most visually arresting and vital voices within modern cinema. Below are our five favorite films from the poetic master!
5: A Hidden Life
A Hidden Life feels like a bridge that finds Malick’s earlier work and his later endeavours joined together in a spiritually rich union. Following up a string of abysmal late-career strikeouts, Malick finally hits a solid stride with this quietly stunning, slow-burning anti-war epic. It’s a powerful film that thoroughly examines a fundamental moral question: Is it better to suffer injustice, or to be the one who inflicts injustice? It’s a film about tough choices and the hardships of doing the right thing when doing the right thing isn’t easy, and it’s a film that fits perfectly within Malick’s wheelhouse due to its protagonists unwavering spirituality and martyrdom (which was later beatified by the Catholic Church). Although it has no business standing at three hours long, its overall experience is one that will linger with you long after its credits roll.
4: The Thin Red Line
After a two-decade long hiatus, Malick returned to cinemas with his loose adaptation James Jones' World War II novel, The Thin Red Line. Epic in scope, with a gargantuan ensemble cast (some of which would be cut out of the film entirely) to match, the film is an beautiful and harrowing cine-poem about the evils of war that’s filled with the voiceovers and images of nature that have become Malick’s directorial signature. Fragmented and complex, with terrific pieces of narration (“This great evil, where does it come from? How did it steal into the world?”), the film finds a nice balance between action and introspection, as it attempts to wrestle with what about war makes us human. To quote Richard Schickel, “The film is a gorgeous garland on an unknown soldier's grave.”
3: Badlands
Often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, Malick’s feature-length debut, Badlands, is masterful slice of Americana that put him on the map and laid the stylistic foundation that he would spend the rest of his career building upon. Violent and dream-like, Malick presents the film as if it were a fairy tale, bringing an element of magical realism and childlike wonder to the usual mix of his striking visuals. Influenced by the crimes of convicted teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather (which would also inspire several films, including Tarantino’s Natural Born Killers), Malick finds a unique tone that is sharp with poetic irony and casts and undeniable spell on its viewer. Strengthened by incredible performances from Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, and Warren Oates, Badlands still stands as one of Malick’s greatest works and one of the most singularly impressive debuts of all time.
2: The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is arguably one of Malick’s most acclaimed pieces of work and one of the best and most unique films of the 2010s. A family drama spanning multiple time periods, the film is an ambitious experimental achievement that focuses on an individual's struggle to reconcile love, mercy, and beauty with the existence of illness, suffering, and death. Malick attempts to encompass all of existence and filter it through the prism of a few miniscule lives, creating an unforgettable impressionistic metaphysical investigation into mankind's place in the grand scheme of things. A gorgeous meditation poem of magnanimous philosophical proportions, The Tree of Life is simple, yet challenging odyssey through time and memory that only Terrence Malick could conjure.
1: Days of Heaven
Shot primarily in the golden hour with mainly natural light, Malick’s second feature, Days of Heaven, is pure poetic perfection and includes some of the greatest cinematography every committed to celluloid. The film spent the better part of two years in a post-production limbo, as Malick and editor Billy Weber struggled to find a general flow and assemble scenes, which was finally solved with the added, improvised narration by actress Linda Manz (similar to what he had done with Sissy Spacek in Badlands). The post-production experimentations would greatly impact the film for the better, presenting its love-triangle romance obliquely and filtering it through the eyes of a child who, now hardened by the passing years, recounts the tale as if it doesn’t sting. It’s a powerful and haunting story with images that sear into memory and melt away the screen. Complete with solid performances and a wistful score by Ennio Morricone, Days of Heaven is the total package and remains the high-water mark of this tremendously visionary director’s career.
Well, that’s our list! What do you think? Did we leave your favorite Malick film on the cutting room floor? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!