Stop the presses. Terrence Malick’s long-delayed, universe-encompassing project has slowly been making its way toward distribution: we finally know that it will get its world premiere at Cannes next year and be publicly released in the U.S. shortly thereafter. But today a trailer finally dropped, at last giving the masses a glimpse at what all the fuss is about. Without further ado:
So here’s what I think (I presume you want to know what I think, else why are you reading this blog?): I. Can’t. Wait.
Look, if you haven’t seen any of Terrence Malick’s previous four films, you owe it to yourself to go and check them out. “Badlands,” “Days of Heaven,” “The Thin Red Line” – these are some of the most emotionally resonant films I’ve ever seen (maybe not so much “The New World,” but at least that one’s still pretty). Malick’s astounding visuals and thematic subtleties hit you on some primal level. There are few characters in film history with such presence; they are completely believable as individuals, and yet there’s always this sense that they stand in for something greater, something deeper. And it looks like Malick is making that imagery overt in his latest. Well, if there’s anyone that I’d be willing to follow on a Kubrick-ian head-case multiverse meditation-type journey with, it’d be Terrence Malick. Also, can we just go ahead and give Emmanuel Lubezki his 2011 Oscar for Cinematography this year? And probably one for Alexandre Desplat for his score while we’re at it. Might as well save some time.
The Best Films of Our Lives 
I’m so excited about this film as well! The trailer’s beautiful (great play on colors and shapes and personal vs. global, etc.). I haven’t seen Days of Heaven yet (shameful, I know), but I’m planning on doing that over break–do you think that’s his best film?
Gun to my head I would pick “Days of Heaven,” but we’re talking about minute gradations of genius here. Until “The New World,” as I said before, of course.