Tuesday, June 7, 2011

THE CINEMA OF TERRENCE MALICK TOLD THROUGH IMAGES & STILLS

I've seen 'The Tree Of Life' 3 times now, which has got me revisiting all of Terrence Malick's work these last couple of weeks. Much like Michael Mann (who i did a similar blog of recently) Malick is another director that you can write & talk about forever, but sometimes you need some imagery to really emphasize how great he is. So i thought id keep the writing to a minimum with this post, and show you guys some of my favorite pics from Terrence Malick's body of work.
*I'm also making another Malick/Tree Of Life related post in hopes that more people will come across my blog, seeing that 'Tree Of Life' and Terrence Malick (who's in post production of a new film already) are 2 popular Internet searches at the moment.

The Magic Hour (and other clever uses of light):
In Malick's earlier work, the use of the "magic hour" (the time just before sundown or sun up) captured by Barbet Schroeder's regular cinematographer; Nestor Almendros (as well as Haskell Wexler who later came in to assist Almendros because he was going blind, yet never got the credit he deserved) was so awesome its ridiculous (as you can see in the images below, especially highlighted in 'Days Of Heaven' & 'Badlands'). In his more recent stuff like 'Tree Of Life' and 'The New World', the magic hour isn't too prevalent, but there's still shades of it hear & there (as seen in the images below from 'The New World' and 'The Thin Red Line').

'Days Of Heaven'
'Badlands'
'The Thin Red Line'
'The New World'
...and other clever uses of natural light...
Even though Malick moved away from shooting the magic hour over the years, he still manages to capture a lot of great shots of natural light creeping through holes, tree branches or through the cracks of someones hand in his more recent work...

'Tree Of Life'
'The New World'
'The Thin Red Line'

Humans & Nature
Now I know that Malick isn't the first or only director to try and make a connection between nature and humans, but i do think he's one of the best at pulling it off. In just about every movie, he makes this conscious effort to show humans either blend in or camouflage themselves in their natural surroundings, which in Terrence Malick's case seems to almost always be tall fields of grass. But beyond the wheat fields and tall blades of grass which are pretty much Malick's go-too landscape, he's also tried to blend his characters in to other forms of nature like; water, trees and even mud for that matter. Whether it be the tone of a certain actors skin or the color of the clothes they're wearing, Malick is a master at making his actors apart of the landscapes he shoots.

'The New World'
'The Thin Red Line'
'Days Of Heaven'
'Badlands'

Intimacy:
I'm so happy that Malick's next film is a love story. For someone who's so great at capturing intimate and touching moments in his films with an "up close & personal" feel, it amazes me that he's never made a straight up romance before (calling 'Badlands' strictly a romance is kind of stretching it btw). If there's anyone who needs to direct a love story, its Terrence Malick.

'The Thin Red Line'
'The Tree Of Life'
'The New World'
'Badlands'

Other Various Images...

'The Thin Red Line'
'The New World'
'The Tree Of Life'

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