As a still photographer, his work always inspires me. In fact I watch his films when I’m feeling less than inspired. He has a gift when it comes to composition, light and story. His latest movies don’t have the spoon fed dialogue most look for. We want everything to be spelled out verbally and when it’s not it’s ignored. These last movies are incredible in that you are forced to use your imagination to interpret what’s going on. It’s incredible brave knowing that most won’t watch. You can’t stop art.
His later movies are giving "this capital one commercial was shot on an iphone (tm) by a 500px discover page veteran" in how they look "american psycho but without the psycho part" in how they feel feel -- some patrick bateman type guys driving cabriolets, living in enormous apartments, dating pretty-faced skinny girls, and dancing on beaches.
@@CrossfeetGaming Nope and he also said that he likes the song Talk Dirty by Jason Derulo too www.indiewire.com/2017/03/terrance-malick-set-stories-zoolander-1201794434/
@@crestonb5432 Honestly, I would say the opposite is true. DePalma is just kind of doing the same things over and over again and isn't really evolving. Gaspar Noe though I think is the closest thing we have to a Brian DePalma this generation.
@@Clay3613 I don’t see it. Visually it’s better with each film and it’s intent and choice of score excels far beyond what Thin Red Line an already well made film was capable of showing.
I didn't know about Terrence, but when I saw the trailer of Tree of Life, my jaw dropped. I waited for months to finally release it and watch. That movie is SO HEAVY and has so much depth, I seriously can't watch it for more than 20 min continuously. My mind explodes.
A Hidden Life sucks. First of all don't shoot a movie in English when none of the cast's first language is English. Shoot it in their language and sub or dub it. But (as someone with German as their first language) hearing the characters speak English is, first of all nonsensical, and secondly awful to listen to if they all have a German accent. The second worst thing about A Hidden Life is the editing, just hate it. With a passion.
"You think when you reach a certain age things will start making sense, and you find out that you are just as lost as you were before. I suppose that’s what damnation is. The pieces of your life never to come together, just splashed out there."
Kreative Chaos Guides nothing really, Rick seems to reconcile with his "lostness" though there is no indication that anything has really changed. I'm not sure it was so much about the end as it is another whole movie, do you listen to music to get to the end of it?
Here's another concept: Malick can now film AS MUCH as he wants because it's digital rather than film. This gives him much more freedom to film crazy shit that he can whittle into a finished product in postproduction.
I think that's exactly what Patrick meant when he said, that Malick has a younger energy now in his 70s. he is just constantly evolving, with time, experimenting with new technology and equipment. rather than sticking on a past period and getting forgotten like other filmmakers like Brian De Palma or Copola
Shooting with professional digital cameras isn't really that much cheaper than using film. When you consistently make movies starring many top Hollywood actors despite flopping at the box office (or maybe not aiming at it in the first place) it's clear that budget is not a problem for you
"It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning!" _whispered voiceover_ "but was it really winning, if all my problems kept coming back? What did it mean to win, if all else I did would fail? Did I hope to outrun my own destruction if I kept going faster, faster, faster?" *EXPLOSIONS* *Dwayne the Rock Johnson fires a machine gun mounted on an jeep bungeejumping off a cliff topless*
This is fantastic. all of the little skits are such a testament to how in touch you (and whoever's filming) really are with his style lmfao. You forgot Voyage of Time! Came out in 2016, right around/in between the twirling trilogy. I thought it was absolutely stunning and fucking fantastic. Only an hour long.
I was one of the few who saw Song to Song and it still remains one of the best viewings I’ve had in a theater. It was like a reset that completely refreshed me. I still go back to it and just skip around and watch sequences.
No, the Terrence Malick of youtube is Nerd City. Great writting and video editing but they upload like 3 videos per year. You know that a channel is good when all the top comments are from huge well-known youtubers.
The way you talk about Malick makes me think of Godard, who also make a bunch of classic films before leaving traditional storytelling behind and becoming more wildly experimental.
Exactly, Malick isn't someone who makes films badly the way every schlock Hollywood nonsense blockbuster director churns out with the regularity of safeguarding copyright + profit.
sometimes it happens, it is exceptional, that an artist achieves a unique, original work of art, a light in the dark, and then that same artist builds good works, but not great ones. However, his contribution is already there, Terence Malick did it, in many of his films he built a unique contribution to cinema, which is doubtless
I'' never forget seeing Badlands on a big screen at film school ten years ago. It hypnotised me and inspired me to dedicate my own life to film making. A truly unique film maker.
My late brother was a big fan of "Badlands". He never talked about Mallick or his other movies. For him he was probably a one hit wonder. But man, he loved that movie. Some times one movie can make a film maker memorable.
@@Gemnist98 Thank you. Sadly, my brothers problems with alcohol, contributed to his difficult relationship with his children. I miss him. But I can remember how many people he touched during his life.
I just watched “A Hidden Life “ and had never heard of Terrence Malick . I was amazed and moved by this experience . Thank you for the summary of his work .
So glad you mentioned Ebert and his review of To The Wonder--he was the first person I thought of when I started watching this video. I miss him and the unique voice he brought to film criticism. Also: dope video. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I never stopped caring for Mallick. Guy is a bloody genius. The old folks in Hollywood really need to get some slack and move over a bit. What they keep producing lately is utter garbage. Very expensive garbage. All show, no substance. I ounce inspired myself from the poem in king of cup to write a letter to someone I fell for, and it actually worked. Seriously, how cheesy is that. But isn't that the pinnacle of what art can do?
Comparing Malick's later work to experiential visual art pieces in a museum is dead on. I love these films for precisely that reason, particularly in a theater setting. They use the traditional elements of modern cinema while pushing the narrative bounds of what a movie can be and allow me to think and feel about what I am watching in a different way. But unlike most film pieces you would find in a museum, his films draw me into the experience in a deeper way, and not just different for the sake of difference.
Weirdly, they make less money being played in any theater that wanted to have them, than many of these museum bound art pieces make by selling a single copy to a collector.
It’s pretty simple: After The Tree of Life he made a couple stream of consciousness films that don’t feature a pre-existing screenplay or story and are experimental and largely improvised. Don’t get me wrong, Malick always was very much about experimentalism and “finding the movie in the editing room” as he described it, but he took it up by ten notches after The Tree of Life. The more interesting question is why did he do that. And I have no fucking clue. And since he rarely speak out in public, we’ll probably never know. Anyway, I look forward to his WW2 movie that’s coming out, since he already said that they had a script this time. And it got good reviews in Cannes. So I’ll definitely check that one out
Really this is what George Lucas should be doing. Going back to experimental film-making. He has all the money he needs, and everyone slates his films since The Phantom Menace, so why not?
Those movies should've been made as short films or just short in length honestly. that kinda film has no business in being that long, especially when the majority of the film absolutely nothing happens
I saw the "Tough Twirling Trilogy" in the exact same cinema over those few years. It felt like going to a favorite restaurant only for the food to be diminishing returns each time.
You didn't mention either version of his "Voyage of Time" (aka, everything not worthy of "Tree of Life"). Also there are three officially released alternate edits of "The New World", and two of "Tree of Life".
Man, I’m glad that you mentioned that the last movie reviewed by Roger Ebert was To The Wonder. It is a little known fact, that I was going to say here, but then you did it. I really like Ebert and his whole legacy to film critic, so thanks for that!
Rewatching this for the first time since it dropped and its so funny omg! Patrick getting lost inside the window curtain was amazing, and his voiceover accent genuinely getting confused between southern/Appalachian and Irish was also hilarious
You call him the “Hippy Michael Mann,” but based in his original slower output and how meticulously his movies were crafted, wouldn’t it be fairer to say he’s some weird version of Kubrick?
I love that a director like him tackled a WWII film. So at odds with his style but perfectly fits the era and setting. Shows that sometimes it's good to mix things up
Loved this video (and I love all your videos) Malick is my fav filmmaker and I actually love his last 3 films! He isn’t for everyone but if you are serious about film everyone should at least watch the extended cut of tree of life once. It’s the sort of film like 2001 a space odyssey where you owe it to yourself to wrestle with it. Patrick you should continue to do directors video essays!
I was looking for the new TM movie trailer for A Hidden Life. I am so glad I took the time to watch this. I am a big Malick fan and will keep watching your stuff! Great work.. thanks so much
Really enjoyed this. You perfectly articulated why I had such a hard time with Knight of Cups (the only one I’ve seen from his recent era), when stuff like Thin Red Line and (especially for me) Badlands were so great.
I loved “Badlands”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Tree of Life”, but the next three were snoozefests to me. I haven’t seen “Days of Heaven”, “The New World”, and the latest one, “A Hidden Life”.
Really good video. I can’t begin to describe how much his first 5 films mean to me. They are on another level. I liked To The Wonder a great deal, way more than most, and thought it was actually a totally logical continuation of his style. And yet I haven’t seen the last two. So I totally sympathise with this video. Thank you so much for giving these late films the respect they deserve. Your critique was very insightful and well-informed - I’ve been waiting for someone to go beyond ‘boring perfume ad’ shit that passes for late-Malick criticism. Bravo.
I honestly love his style, then again, I love Aronofsky and Lynch. The dream-like story telling that serves to reach into to the recesses of your mind, the focus on light and movement, showing vs telling... It's inspiring and drives me to create.
Snow Mathews If you’re into these kinds og dreamy movies then you should also check out 2001: a space odyssey by Kubrick. Also if you’re into older, foreign films then Andrei Tarkovsky probably made the best of the best when it comes to dream-like filmmaking. Check out «Mirror» (1975) and «Stalker» (1979) by him of you have the patience ahah.
@@Xarithus I seriously love Kubrick and Tarkovsky. I honestly idolize Kubrick's methods and love seeing his influence on directors like Nolan and Ridley Scott. I know that Lars Van-Trier received a lot of negative reactions, but I'd be curious to see how you view his work.
Snow Mathews Snow Mathews I actually haven’t seen any of Von Trier’s movies haha. I really should though, I’ve heard some of them are really great so it’s definitely on my list. Any recommendation to what movie og his I should start with?
Tonal Montage is the method used to achieve those "tone poems". Thus you can say tonal montage rather than tone poems and your irritation will be spared.
Hey Patrick, idea: you should make a list of "must watch" films for aspiring film makers. I do love movies, and I know that this is what I wanna do with my life but often I feel like I should study more but I just don't know where to begin. Great video as always
Huh. Yesterday I asked myself "what the hell ever happened to Terrence Malick?" and now today this appears. I need to go silently sit in a windy field as the sun sets and think about what all this means.
I’ve actually been thinking about Malick’s work recently after coming across Knight of Cups on sale for $4.99 on iTunes. Your video has given me a starting point to look i to these recent films. Thanks!
We were shown Days of Heaven in a film studies class in the early 80's and it's remained a favorite. The cinematographer, Nestor Almendros, has an interesting memoir from his career, A Man With A Camera, worth picking up. His preference for natural light was hand-in-hand with Malick's vision.
He was mostly in Paris during those 20 years. When I asked him why he came back, he simply said, "It was time. There was nothing there for me anymore." I think something happened in his life which kept him there, and it somehow ended, so he decided to come back to make movies.
Great stuff! I’d love more arthouse reviews! There are tons of great underrated art/indie films like Death of Stalin, What We Do In the Shadows, Other Side of the Wind, etc that could use a shot of mainstream attention!
I personally adore his films, obviously, like anyone else I do enjoy a great plot and well-developed characters however visual storytelling is what has always caught my eye and inspired me more than anything else. Malick is one of the very few directors who clearly positioned themselves on the Art side of the cinema, sort of visual meditation like Ron Fricke's work which I do love immensely. Malick's work isn't for everyone and even though his films might look like an easy watch, they're definitely not. I do hope he keeps on evolving so we could keep evolving with him.
Badlands was strangely haunting for me because it felt like he treated death as real as I’ve ever seen it . Like I remember seeing someone die on tv as a kid in Colombia and the feeling was the same . Shock then ...nothing , an eerie silence and then nothing . It takes a mental toll on the senses . Death is sudden , not heroic , not symbolic . Just a matter of fact.
@@bebaguette766 Every Frame a Painting is overrated though. As much as I like his content, his vision of cinema is wayyy too reactionary and old school.
Okay Patrick. You won me over. I love your channel. Your videos are very VERY insightful but a joy to watch when you add some humor into it. You rock Pat! And Terrance is def evolving all the time even though some audience won’t understand, but that’s the whole concept of being creative in film making.
Hey, you made a well-thought-out and compassionate video essay that took lots of hard work with writing, filming and editing so you should know that you made a single typo.
One thing I like from Malick's recent films is the cinematography. Instead of big beautiful shots sweeping across landscapes, a lot of camera work in his recent films are up close- looking up and looking down at peoples' faces. It's very documentarian and I like it.
I really liked Tree of Life and even To the Wonder, but that’s in part because I’ve lived in Oklahoma and Paris, France, and had broken relationships in both places. It spoke to me and my life. I never even heard of the recent ones he did, but that’s in part as I’m in small town northern Colorado with no art house theater within a 20 mile radius. I watch more streaming these days. What I liked about To the Wonder as well is that the way the film worked was like how my brain recalls time in my life, how my visual memory works. It was like watching a film in memory. I saw it the way I review my own life in my mind’s eye. The Tree of Life was similar in this way. I’m kind of curious with the films after To The Wonder to see if they evoke this same feeling in me, of watching someone else’s memories. I’ll have to track them down and see what I think. Thanks for this analysis!
So, he gave up on constructing a narrative or background or world-building and just had some actors twirl in front of a camera with some good location scouting, timing and tons of editing and thus people aren't interested in watching them. Got it.
It's an interesting thing: Tree of Life/Days of Heaven got a bunch of accusations of being pretentious, but I think if those films genuinely were, most people would have stayed away. Song to Song is a perfect example of what some people think Malick is always like - but this time no one is saying otherwise. Most audiences have this unerring instinct for knowing when a filmmaker truly is full of shit, or when he's just saying something in an unusual way. Same thing with Lynch and anyone else who goes off the beaten path with their storytelling.
I think what Malick knew before his Twirling Trilogy was that he could only make a type of movie once. Each time he made a movie, he threw himself into that genre and style and subject, that revisiting it would be pointless, as he'd have said all that he needed to. And that's how I feel about To the Wonder, a movie I genuinely was moved by when it first came out, but has slightly diminished in my eyes as the elements used for that picture were reused in the following two.
I was pretty into THE TREE OF LIFE until the dinosaurs came on. That sealed the deal for me. My favorite film of the 21st century, against some very stiff competition (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, PAN'S LABYRINTH, CITY OF GOD, etc.).
My best friend's film is "The New World", so I bought him every Terrance Malick film and I discovered the films after "Tree of Life". We watched them all in a marathon and it was a fun experience.
He seems to be falling into the role Woody Allen filled for years. A celebrated director who's past movies are famous but only ever moderately successful having moved into a phase where he can get any actor in Hollywood to star in his movies but no one goes to see them despite the star power. Thankfully he doesn't have the personal issues Woody has, but I don't think those issues are primarily why Allen's movies have fared so poorly.
I watch those films and I rate all of them very highly! I absolutely adore his new style of filmmaking and I think he is definitely the best filmmaker alive.
Wonderful video! I only ever saw Tree of Life, and that was a while ago, but I liked it. This video inspires me to revisit it and also check out all of Malick's other films.
Patrick, have you ever written a feature film/short screenplay? I'm kinda new to your channel so this might be a silly question, but i adore your content and would love to see more original work.
Just wanna note, Voyage of Time (2016) did became a box office success, with over $12 million. That is, because it's primarily screened in museum theaters in lieu of traditional theaters, and that it's a companion piece to The Tree of Life.
I'm a big fan of Malick's work after the tree of life. I may be stretching, but those 3 movies for me are more about love. To the wonder is the love that faded away long ago but none of them want to split up because they are dependant of each others. Knight of cups is about the empty search of love. And song to song about passion and sexual love. I also thing those movies do have characters, but those are not presented but specific traits, more so by the action they do, the decision they make, and the way they think. Great video !
Before you post a comment about it, yes, I know there's a typo
good video
Was your short shot in nature light?
Hey, did you know there's a typo?
There's a typo. You said "before you comment about it," implying that I would comment about it, so I commented about it.
I actually did see Knight of Cups and Song to Song in the theater so ha!
No hand through long grass 0/10
mwstriker98
It’s hilarious what a cliche that shot has became.
That’s Ridley Scott.
Watch Days of Heaven.
@@Gemnist98 Scott took it from Malick.
@@moeezS ...and since then, any and many outdoor tracking shots in a field, meadow, etc have the same ''caress the grass'...
As a still photographer, his work always inspires me. In fact I watch his films when I’m feeling less than inspired. He has a gift when it comes to composition, light and story. His latest movies don’t have the spoon fed dialogue most look for. We want everything to be spelled out verbally and when it’s not it’s ignored. These last movies are incredible in that you are forced to use your imagination to interpret what’s going on. It’s incredible brave knowing that most won’t watch. You can’t stop art.
Capitalism can, and does. Specially with such an expensive artform as cinema.
His later movies are giving "this capital one commercial was shot on an iphone (tm) by a 500px discover page veteran" in how they look "american psycho but without the psycho part" in how they feel feel -- some patrick bateman type guys driving cabriolets, living in enormous apartments, dating pretty-faced skinny girls, and dancing on beaches.
Great video with one major flaw...
You forgot to mention that Zoolander is his favorite film.
*jazz music stops*
...........you're fuckin with me, right?
Zoolander is a f*cking GEM
@@CrossfeetGaming Nope and he also said that he likes the song Talk Dirty by Jason Derulo
too www.indiewire.com/2017/03/terrance-malick-set-stories-zoolander-1201794434/
Holy shit this is the best thing.
That intro made me realise that McConaughey has never been in a Malick film and that quite frankly shocks me.
Need a video like this for Brian De Palma too.
There's a great quite recent Brian DePalma doc on Netflix worth catching if you're a fan.
Romina Jones definitely worth the watch.
Well the thing with depalma is he’s based and redpilled now
@@crestonb5432 Honestly, I would say the opposite is true. DePalma is just kind of doing the same things over and over again and isn't really evolving. Gaspar Noe though I think is the closest thing we have to a Brian DePalma this generation.
Tate Hildyard the worlds really changed.
Terence Malick may grow & evolve, but did you know that John Carpenter retired to become a synth god?
This gave me a very sincere chuckle
Terence Malick has devolved since Thin Red Line.
he was a synth god way before he retired, listen to the Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack.
Apparently there's gonna be a documentary coming out pretty soon about synthwave music and it's narrated by John Carpenter!
@@Clay3613 I don’t see it. Visually it’s better with each film and it’s intent and choice of score excels far beyond what Thin Red Line an already well made film was capable of showing.
I didn't know about Terrence, but when I saw the trailer of Tree of Life, my jaw dropped. I waited for months to finally release it and watch.
That movie is SO HEAVY and has so much depth, I seriously can't watch it for more than 20 min continuously. My mind explodes.
Malick is back in full form with A Hidden Life and it is sensational.
A Hidden Life sucks. First of all don't shoot a movie in English when none of the cast's first language is English. Shoot it in their language and sub or dub it. But (as someone with German as their first language) hearing the characters speak English is, first of all nonsensical, and secondly awful to listen to if they all have a German accent.
The second worst thing about A Hidden Life is the editing, just hate it. With a passion.
@@paulfeldem At least it wasn't a Bela Tarr film.
"You think when you reach a certain age things will start making sense, and you find out that you are just as lost as you were before. I suppose that’s what damnation is. The pieces of your life never to come together, just splashed out there."
HiTop Films Knight of cups. I love that movie to tears...I'm crying right now. Screw the haters, malick is movie God.
@@TxxT33 what happens at the end of that movie?
Kreative Chaos Guides nothing really, Rick seems to reconcile with his "lostness" though there is no indication that anything has really changed. I'm not sure it was so much about the end as it is another whole movie, do you listen to music to get to the end of it?
This seems like something Rust Cohle would say.
Yoooo HiTop!
Here's another concept: Malick can now film AS MUCH as he wants because it's digital rather than film. This gives him much more freedom to film crazy shit that he can whittle into a finished product in postproduction.
I think that's exactly what Patrick meant when he said, that Malick has a younger energy now in his 70s. he is just constantly evolving, with time, experimenting with new technology and equipment. rather than sticking on a past period and getting forgotten like other filmmakers like Brian De Palma or Copola
Shooting with professional digital cameras isn't really that much cheaper than using film. When you consistently make movies starring many top Hollywood actors despite flopping at the box office (or maybe not aiming at it in the first place) it's clear that budget is not a problem for you
I want a Fast and Furious movie directed by Terrence Malick.
"It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning!"
_whispered voiceover_ "but was it really winning, if all my problems kept coming back? What did it mean to win, if all else I did would fail? Did I hope to outrun my own destruction if I kept going faster, faster, faster?"
*EXPLOSIONS*
*Dwayne the Rock Johnson fires a machine gun mounted on an jeep bungeejumping off a cliff topless*
@@freddovich7925
Is it weird that I want this?
@@cremetangerine82 i NEED this
That's just Aggro Dr1ft
This is fantastic. all of the little skits are such a testament to how in touch you (and whoever's filming) really are with his style lmfao.
You forgot Voyage of Time! Came out in 2016, right around/in between the twirling trilogy. I thought it was absolutely stunning and fucking fantastic. Only an hour long.
A pleasantly respectful analysis. A follow up would be cool when his next picture comes out
The first 5 minutes were extremely relatable. 😂 "Oh yeah I loved 'Thin Red Line.' Wait what? He's made how many movies since 'Tree of Life'?"
Ahaaa i love your impression of Terrence Malick when you are playing with the curtain! Had me in a fit of laughter!
I was one of the few who saw Song to Song and it still remains one of the best viewings I’ve had in a theater. It was like a reset that completely refreshed me. I still go back to it and just skip around and watch sequences.
How dare you call yourself the Terrence Malick of RUclips and show your face
If anything, How To Basic is the *real Terrence Malick of RUclips*
oh god, I've literally never seen a truer statement in my life.
No, the Terrence Malick of youtube is Nerd City. Great writting and video editing but they upload like 3 videos per year. You know that a channel is good when all the top comments are from huge well-known youtubers.
@@AST-erisked Yeah because the first thing I notice from a Terrence Malick film is its great writing.
*Gucci*
-Patrick Willems, 2019
I think that's an Eighth Grade reference?
it was on 69 likes :(
@@keeperoftheairgucci gang
The way you talk about Malick makes me think of Godard, who also make a bunch of classic films before leaving traditional storytelling behind and becoming more wildly experimental.
Terrence Malick is the Patrick H Willems of “Tone Poems”! Lol
You had me at "Michael Fassbender wrestles with members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers". I'm there, dude! XD
Maan you got me with those "tone poem" sequences. Congrats on this video, Patrick! Terrence Malick means a lot to me.
This is not going to age well after A Hidden Life.
I was just thinking the same thing... Immediately jostled.
Exactly, Malick isn't someone who makes films badly the way every schlock Hollywood nonsense blockbuster director churns out with the regularity of safeguarding copyright + profit.
This video is aging greatly already. Terrence Malick has been in decline every since A Thin Red Line.
@@JamesASharp No, he hasn't. Since then, he's made "The Tree of Life".
sometimes it happens, it is exceptional, that an artist achieves a unique, original work of art, a light in the dark, and then that same artist builds good works, but not great ones. However, his contribution is already there, Terence Malick did it, in many of his films he built a unique contribution to cinema, which is doubtless
I'' never forget seeing Badlands on a big screen at film school ten years ago. It hypnotised me and inspired me to dedicate my own life to film making. A truly unique film maker.
I just think it's hilarious how every artsy abstract moment in film MUST be accompanied with a swarm of birds.
*flock
My late brother was a big fan of "Badlands". He never talked about Mallick or his other movies. For him he was probably a one hit wonder. But man, he loved that movie. Some times one movie can make a film maker memorable.
Sorry for your loss
So sorry to hear about your loss, but I hope you’re healing.
@@Gemnist98 Thank you. Sadly, my brothers problems with alcohol, contributed to his difficult relationship with his children. I miss him. But I can remember how many people he touched during his life.
@@cremetangerine82 Thank you.
Love this video - I just took a class that looked at his movies in chronological order, and I’ve never felt so seen/prepared for a video essay lol
Yo what!!! can’t believe this my life
I just watched “A Hidden Life “ and had never heard of Terrence Malick . I was amazed and moved by this experience . Thank you for the summary of his work .
So glad you mentioned Ebert and his review of To The Wonder--he was the first person I thought of when I started watching this video. I miss him and the unique voice he brought to film criticism.
Also: dope video. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
R.I.P. Ebert! :( :( :( :( :(
I never stopped caring for Mallick. Guy is a bloody genius. The old folks in Hollywood really need to get some slack and move over a bit. What they keep producing lately is utter garbage. Very expensive garbage. All show, no substance. I ounce inspired myself from the poem in king of cup to write a letter to someone I fell for, and it actually worked. Seriously, how cheesy is that. But isn't that the pinnacle of what art can do?
Comparing Malick's later work to experiential visual art pieces in a museum is dead on.
I love these films for precisely that reason, particularly in a theater setting. They use the traditional elements of modern cinema while pushing the narrative bounds of what a movie can be and allow me to think and feel about what I am watching in a different way. But unlike most film pieces you would find in a museum, his films draw me into the experience in a deeper way, and not just different for the sake of difference.
Weirdly, they make less money being played in any theater that wanted to have them, than many of these museum bound art pieces make by selling a single copy to a collector.
It’s pretty simple: After The Tree of Life he made a couple stream of consciousness films that don’t feature a pre-existing screenplay or story and are experimental and largely improvised.
Don’t get me wrong, Malick always was very much about experimentalism and “finding the movie in the editing room” as he described it, but he took it up by ten notches after The Tree of Life.
The more interesting question is why did he do that.
And I have no fucking clue.
And since he rarely speak out in public, we’ll probably never know.
Anyway, I look forward to his WW2 movie that’s coming out, since he already said that they had a script this time. And it got good reviews in Cannes. So I’ll definitely check that one out
Okay yeah well I hadn’t seen the video when I posted the comment. Patrick said pretty much everything I also said
Really this is what George Lucas should be doing. Going back to experimental film-making. He has all the money he needs, and everyone slates his films since The Phantom Menace, so why not?
Those movies should've been made as short films or just short in length honestly. that kinda film has no business in being that long, especially when the majority of the film absolutely nothing happens
A series about aging great directors' late period films would be awesome. I know you've mentioned how consistently quality Spielberg's output is.
I saw the "Tough Twirling Trilogy" in the exact same cinema over those few years. It felt like going to a favorite restaurant only for the food to be diminishing returns each time.
This is such a great way of putting it. Lol
Well done! I'm inspired to watch them all. Thanks!
You didn't mention either version of his "Voyage of Time" (aka, everything not worthy of "Tree of Life").
Also there are three officially released alternate edits of "The New World", and two of "Tree of Life".
Man, I’m glad that you mentioned that the last movie reviewed by Roger Ebert was To The Wonder. It is a little known fact, that I was going to say here, but then you did it. I really like Ebert and his whole legacy to film critic, so thanks for that!
Possibly your most eloquent work. Keep twirling.
Rewatching this for the first time since it dropped and its so funny omg! Patrick getting lost inside the window curtain was amazing, and his voiceover accent genuinely getting confused between southern/Appalachian and Irish was also hilarious
You call him the “Hippy Michael Mann,” but based in his original slower output and how meticulously his movies were crafted, wouldn’t it be fairer to say he’s some weird version of Kubrick?
I love that a director like him tackled a WWII film. So at odds with his style but perfectly fits the era and setting. Shows that sometimes it's good to mix things up
The use of Dvořák's String Quartet no. 12 was a fantastically fitting touch. :)
Thank you, Pat! This reminded me to go rewatch your Point Break as remade by Terrance Malik video. Great work still, after 7 years it's still superb!
Loved this video (and I love all your videos) Malick is my fav filmmaker and I actually love his last 3 films! He isn’t for everyone but if you are serious about film everyone should at least watch the extended cut of tree of life once. It’s the sort of film like 2001 a space odyssey where you owe it to yourself to wrestle with it. Patrick you should continue to do directors video essays!
I was looking for the new TM movie trailer for A Hidden Life. I am so glad I took the time to watch this. I am a big Malick fan and will keep watching your stuff! Great work.. thanks so much
Really enjoyed this. You perfectly articulated why I had such a hard time with Knight of Cups (the only one I’ve seen from his recent era), when stuff like Thin Red Line and (especially for me) Badlands were so great.
I loved “Badlands”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Tree of Life”, but the next three were snoozefests to me. I haven’t seen “Days of Heaven”, “The New World”, and the latest one, “A Hidden Life”.
Knight of cups was amazing
Really good video. I can’t begin to describe how much his first 5 films mean to me. They are on another level. I liked To The Wonder a great deal, way more than most, and thought it was actually a totally logical continuation of his style. And yet I haven’t seen the last two. So I totally sympathise with this video. Thank you so much for giving these late films the respect they deserve. Your critique was very insightful and well-informed - I’ve been waiting for someone to go beyond ‘boring perfume ad’ shit that passes for late-Malick criticism. Bravo.
I honestly love his style, then again, I love Aronofsky and Lynch. The dream-like story telling that serves to reach into to the recesses of your mind, the focus on light and movement, showing vs telling... It's inspiring and drives me to create.
Snow Mathews If you’re into these kinds og dreamy movies then you should also check out 2001: a space odyssey by Kubrick. Also if you’re into older, foreign films then Andrei Tarkovsky probably made the best of the best when it comes to dream-like filmmaking. Check out «Mirror» (1975) and «Stalker» (1979) by him of you have the patience ahah.
@@Xarithus I seriously love Kubrick and Tarkovsky. I honestly idolize Kubrick's methods and love seeing his influence on directors like Nolan and Ridley Scott.
I know that Lars Van-Trier received a lot of negative reactions, but I'd be curious to see how you view his work.
Snow Mathews Snow Mathews I actually haven’t seen any of Von Trier’s movies haha. I really should though, I’ve heard some of them are really great so it’s definitely on my list. Any recommendation to what movie og his I should start with?
THE THIN RED LINE was pure cinematic genius. Every frame of film could adorn any wall.
I don't know why but this video makes me want to watch the "Tough Twirling Trilogy".
I love watching your new videos whenever they come out. Keep them up, Patrick H. Willems.
Thin red line > saving private ryan
Every shot in a Terence Malik film belongs in a museum or in a ballet. Not for cinema.
Tonal Montage is the method used to achieve those "tone poems". Thus you can say tonal montage rather than tone poems and your irritation will be spared.
Hey, what movie is the shot with the train from at 10:32? It made me say "goddamn" out loud, and now i wanna see more.
@Razor Charlie Thank you!
I often considered Malick to be the American correspondent of Tarkovsky.
YES
Not even close
and drove everyone to suicide with the production of STALKER
Yes, the very slow, methodical, meditative shots with symbolic camera framing.
@
Such a fan of his first 5 films. This was dessert tonight, thanks!
Hey Patrick, idea: you should make a list of "must watch" films for aspiring film makers. I do love movies, and I know that this is what I wanna do with my life but often I feel like I should study more but I just don't know where to begin.
Great video as always
Look up the 1001 Movies you must watch before you die, it’s pretty generalised but it’s a good place to start
BFI's best 100 films list should get you started. Watch Bergman, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Herzog and De Sica. Also read a lot and study film theory.
Mega Bacon I would also recommend IMDB’s top 250, I know it has some crappy ones but there’s still cinematic gems waiting for you there.
It's a terrible list that slowly pushes out all great films before the 1990s. When the TDK is in the top 5 you know there is a problem.
@@bebaguette766 Fucking Dark Knight _is_ top 5, dude.
Well, it's 2:07 AM in the south of the world and I'm just discovering your channel. Love it. This is a great day.
Huh. Yesterday I asked myself "what the hell ever happened to Terrence Malick?" and now today this appears. I need to go silently sit in a windy field as the sun sets and think about what all this means.
I’ve actually been thinking about Malick’s work recently after coming across Knight of Cups on sale for $4.99 on iTunes. Your video has given me a starting point to look i to these recent films. Thanks!
We were shown Days of Heaven in a film studies class in the early 80's and it's remained a favorite. The cinematographer, Nestor Almendros, has an interesting memoir from his career, A Man With A Camera, worth picking up. His preference for natural light was hand-in-hand with Malick's vision.
Wish I could like this twice. Very insightful and thorough and focused. More like this, please!
Did you take the blu-ray out before putting Knight of Cups in the ocean?
He was mostly in Paris during those 20 years. When I asked him why he came back, he simply said, "It was time. There was nothing there for me anymore." I think something happened in his life which kept him there, and it somehow ended, so he decided to come back to make movies.
Makes me think these movies have more in common with Greek clay myth vases or something akin to occult storytelling, Lascaux cave paintings .
That’s a wonderful thought.
Great stuff! I’d love more arthouse reviews! There are tons of great underrated art/indie films like Death of Stalin, What We Do In the Shadows, Other Side of the Wind, etc that could use a shot of mainstream attention!
Love the color grain. Good jobb.
Wow this is your best one yet!!!! An honorable analysis of Malick and also hilarious. 👍🏽
I personally adore his films, obviously, like anyone else I do enjoy a great plot and well-developed characters however visual storytelling is what has always caught my eye and inspired me more than anything else. Malick is one of the very few directors who clearly positioned themselves on the Art side of the cinema, sort of visual meditation like Ron Fricke's work which I do love immensely. Malick's work isn't for everyone and even though his films might look like an easy watch, they're definitely not. I do hope he keeps on evolving so we could keep evolving with him.
God dammit Ron Fricke why aren't you making more movies???!?!
Badlands was strangely haunting for me because it felt like he treated death as real as I’ve ever seen it .
Like I remember seeing someone die on tv as a kid in Colombia and the feeling was the same . Shock then ...nothing , an eerie silence and then nothing . It takes a mental toll on the senses . Death is sudden , not heroic , not symbolic . Just a matter of fact.
Have ever considered making a video about:
Jim Jarmusch
French New Wave Cinema
New German Cinema
Ang Lee
Oliver Stone?
Japanese post-war cinema eg. Akira Kurosawa and Italian neorealism eg. bicycle thieves would be good too
@@MaxArturo Yes. Great additions.
I_would_like_to_see_it.gif
I doubt patrick is that advanced though, he just seem to mostly cover the usual hollywood circlejerk films
*AKI KAURSMÄKI. No hesitation. "Aki Kau-ris-mä-ki".OK?* ruclips.net/video/BpAFPgNyxmc/видео.html
I probably never would have watched any of his movies, so thank you so much for sharing this because I something about it real hypnotic
The best film channel on RUclips. I feel this needs to be said.
Tied with Cinefix
and Now You See It
Lindsay Ellis, Every Frame a Painting, RLM, Criterion Channel, Kyle Kallgren are all way better.
@@bebaguette766 Every Frame a Painting is overrated though. As much as I like his content, his vision of cinema is wayyy too reactionary and old school.
every frame a painting has been dead for 2 or 3 years.
cinefix kinda sold out tbh...
Okay Patrick. You won me over. I love your channel. Your videos are very VERY insightful but a joy to watch when you add some humor into it. You rock Pat! And Terrance is def evolving all the time even though some audience won’t understand, but that’s the whole concept of being creative in film making.
Always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!
Hey, you made a well-thought-out and compassionate video essay that took lots of hard work with writing, filming and editing so you should know that you made a single typo.
How did you make such a detailed video and NOT mention Voyage of Time?? I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing for several years at this point?
Not a "movie".
@@Clay3613 but nonetheless something that would occupy him all the same
One thing I like from Malick's recent films is the cinematography. Instead of big beautiful shots sweeping across landscapes, a lot of camera work in his recent films are up close- looking up and looking down at peoples' faces. It's very documentarian and I like it.
Twirling Cinematic Universe?
along with step up 3d
I really liked Tree of Life and even To the Wonder, but that’s in part because I’ve lived in Oklahoma and Paris, France, and had broken relationships in both places. It spoke to me and my life. I never even heard of the recent ones he did, but that’s in part as I’m in small town northern Colorado with no art house theater within a 20 mile radius. I watch more streaming these days. What I liked about To the Wonder as well is that the way the film worked was like how my brain recalls time in my life, how my visual memory works. It was like watching a film in memory. I saw it the way I review my own life in my mind’s eye. The Tree of Life was similar in this way. I’m kind of curious with the films after To The Wonder to see if they evoke this same feeling in me, of watching someone else’s memories. I’ll have to track them down and see what I think. Thanks for this analysis!
So, he gave up on constructing a narrative or background or world-building and just had some actors twirl in front of a camera with some good location scouting, timing and tons of editing and thus people aren't interested in watching them. Got it.
It's an interesting thing: Tree of Life/Days of Heaven got a bunch of accusations of being pretentious, but I think if those films genuinely were, most people would have stayed away. Song to Song is a perfect example of what some people think Malick is always like - but this time no one is saying otherwise. Most audiences have this unerring instinct for knowing when a filmmaker truly is full of shit, or when he's just saying something in an unusual way. Same thing with Lynch and anyone else who goes off the beaten path with their storytelling.
I think what Malick knew before his Twirling Trilogy was that he could only make a type of movie once. Each time he made a movie, he threw himself into that genre and style and subject, that revisiting it would be pointless, as he'd have said all that he needed to. And that's how I feel about To the Wonder, a movie I genuinely was moved by when it first came out, but has slightly diminished in my eyes as the elements used for that picture were reused in the following two.
I was pretty into THE TREE OF LIFE until the dinosaurs came on. That sealed the deal for me. My favorite film of the 21st century, against some very stiff competition (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, PAN'S LABYRINTH, CITY OF GOD, etc.).
As much as you can try and parody/homage the style, Terry’s nature and grace in direction combined with Emmanuel’s lensing are inimitable.
Did anyone notice how he went from parodying old Malick at the beginning to new Malick in the middle?
My best friend's film is "The New World", so I bought him every Terrance Malick film and I discovered the films after "Tree of Life". We watched them all in a marathon and it was a fun experience.
Make more videos like this! Seriously, RUclips is saturated with blockbuster talk. We need some variety here!
Yes this! Other movies exist! Lol.
I love like the Malick sessions of the video feel genuinely Malicky to a point it's almost touching. Real nice camera work in there.
He seems to be falling into the role Woody Allen filled for years. A celebrated director who's past movies are famous but only ever moderately successful having moved into a phase where he can get any actor in Hollywood to star in his movies but no one goes to see them despite the star power. Thankfully he doesn't have the personal issues Woody has, but I don't think those issues are primarily why Allen's movies have fared so poorly.
It is amazing to me how Tree of Life managed to make 50 mil worldwide.. without most people saying WTF 😂
I watch those films and I rate all of them very highly! I absolutely adore his new style of filmmaking and I think he is definitely the best filmmaker alive.
*AKI KAURSMÄKI. No hesitation. "Aki Kau-ris-mä-ki".OK?* ruclips.net/video/BpAFPgNyxmc/видео.html
@@apexxxx10 What ?
@@georgecombii5680 *AKI KAURISMÄKI.Finland. Here is another trailer* ruclips.net/video/WgGvlyuJ628/видео.html
Wonderful video! I only ever saw Tree of Life, and that was a while ago, but I liked it. This video inspires me to revisit it and also check out all of Malick's other films.
Patrick, have you ever written a feature film/short screenplay? I'm kinda new to your channel so this might be a silly question, but i adore your content and would love to see more original work.
I think he did a few student films
Check out his video on writing a screenplay.
This is a brilliantly written and executed video. You've nailed some things I've thought about Malick's evolution. Fantastic homage / critique
You watched all of terrys movies again? BRUUUUUH....You got nerves of steel.
Vision Mission why? They are a pleasure to watch.
EVERY TERRENCE MALICK MOVIE IS A MASTERPIECE FIGHT ME
Fucking pleb.
@@starkingbiker Everything after Thin Red Line has been borderline pretentious wankery.
Just wanna note, Voyage of Time (2016) did became a box office success, with over $12 million. That is, because it's primarily screened in museum theaters in lieu of traditional theaters, and that it's a companion piece to The Tree of Life.
the whispered voice over, "why does nature vie with itself?" made me wonder if that was actually Matt Torpey saying that.
I'm a big fan of Malick's work after the tree of life. I may be stretching, but those 3 movies for me are more about love.
To the wonder is the love that faded away long ago but none of them want to split up because they are dependant of each others. Knight of cups is about the empty search of love. And song to song about passion and sexual love.
I also thing those movies do have characters, but those are not presented but specific traits, more so by the action they do, the decision they make, and the way they think.
Great video !