Oof. All respect to Malick and the team here, but I absolutely hate this one. I fail to see how this one makes the list at all. It's widely regarded as one of Malick's lesser films; one of the projects he spent weekends shooting with his friends and cast members (some of them shot this just while in between projects I believe). It just sort of stumbles along, as the heads of the music industry ruin the lives of all they come into contact with. Characters that crave power and fear intimacy. Suicide, sex addiction with partners of both sexes, shame, the villain's desire to see beauty be twisted for his own perverted pleasure and exercise of power are all depicted here in a way that feels inevitable.
With such a clear depiction of evil, you'd expect there to be an equally clear depiction of good in this film for it to merit entry on this list, and, in my opinion at least, this absolutely does not qualify. The quiet, understated protagonist of BV does not come across as someone who being virtuous, but rather as a protagonist who is caught up in someone else's story. The relationship is a fairly toxic one, and both leads do not seem to have a true idea of what love is by the end of the film.
I like Malick (and thought the inclusion of his other films were well-earned), I love the cast of this film, which is also why I saw it. But I don't see the vision with the positive review for this one or how it makes the list.
Hello, writer of this review here! I want to preface this by saying that I really respect your opinion and definitely see others' perspectives here.
As I explain in the review, this was my first Malick joint (to borrow the terminology of another favorite director of mine - Spike Lee). The film stands out to me from a Catholic perspective not because of all the evils shown, but because of the redemption story in the third act - even if it's rushed and slightly incomplete, it feels earned because of all that BV and Faye face throughout the first two thirds of the film.
Fassbender's Cook stands out to me as the closest cinematic depiction to Satan that Malick has come up with, particularly in the way he embraces evil secular "gods" that so many corporate executives seem to embody - to him, making music is less about making good art but making a profit, and he corrupts others too stupid to realize it with this worldview. We see this in how he treats Rhonda like a sex object too, as soon as he discards Faye for her, and it's unfortunate that Rhonda never gets any real development beyond her attempts to remember what's good in the world and slow down a demon.
Hey Joe thanks for the reply! Originally I thought of leaving another long analysis of the film in my response but felt that would be needlessly rude to the author!
So I'll simply say I think the hope you find in this film, I have trouble seeing it. It's a film with a lot of excess (runtime, clunky narration, and gorgeous shots) but in all that, not a great resolution. Given what I have seen on screen it is hard to see how Bryce and BV have learned from their mistakes except for the new location and fresh start.
I think your passion for this film is amazing and I am glad to have read your review. However I don't think this is a hidden gem of Malick's filmography. I think it's a bad movie that drowns its characters and audiences in misery and betrayal for hours to give us a disappointing and incomplete resolution without clear signs of growth.
I thank you again for the generous reply. I don't want to keep bashing on what is clearly an important film for you. (I just really dislike this film. Not you, so I hope that distinction remains clear lol)
I still haven't seen it but it's inclusion on the list had me add it to my watchlist. I've seen 5 of Malick's films. Song to Song was my first and remains one of my least favorite films. So I may just be overly biased against it, but I do think it's pretty easily the worst film of his I've seen.
Even Joe's excellent write up of it here does not make me eager to revisit it lol
Oof. All respect to Malick and the team here, but I absolutely hate this one. I fail to see how this one makes the list at all. It's widely regarded as one of Malick's lesser films; one of the projects he spent weekends shooting with his friends and cast members (some of them shot this just while in between projects I believe). It just sort of stumbles along, as the heads of the music industry ruin the lives of all they come into contact with. Characters that crave power and fear intimacy. Suicide, sex addiction with partners of both sexes, shame, the villain's desire to see beauty be twisted for his own perverted pleasure and exercise of power are all depicted here in a way that feels inevitable.
With such a clear depiction of evil, you'd expect there to be an equally clear depiction of good in this film for it to merit entry on this list, and, in my opinion at least, this absolutely does not qualify. The quiet, understated protagonist of BV does not come across as someone who being virtuous, but rather as a protagonist who is caught up in someone else's story. The relationship is a fairly toxic one, and both leads do not seem to have a true idea of what love is by the end of the film.
I like Malick (and thought the inclusion of his other films were well-earned), I love the cast of this film, which is also why I saw it. But I don't see the vision with the positive review for this one or how it makes the list.
Hello, writer of this review here! I want to preface this by saying that I really respect your opinion and definitely see others' perspectives here.
As I explain in the review, this was my first Malick joint (to borrow the terminology of another favorite director of mine - Spike Lee). The film stands out to me from a Catholic perspective not because of all the evils shown, but because of the redemption story in the third act - even if it's rushed and slightly incomplete, it feels earned because of all that BV and Faye face throughout the first two thirds of the film.
Fassbender's Cook stands out to me as the closest cinematic depiction to Satan that Malick has come up with, particularly in the way he embraces evil secular "gods" that so many corporate executives seem to embody - to him, making music is less about making good art but making a profit, and he corrupts others too stupid to realize it with this worldview. We see this in how he treats Rhonda like a sex object too, as soon as he discards Faye for her, and it's unfortunate that Rhonda never gets any real development beyond her attempts to remember what's good in the world and slow down a demon.
Hey Joe thanks for the reply! Originally I thought of leaving another long analysis of the film in my response but felt that would be needlessly rude to the author!
So I'll simply say I think the hope you find in this film, I have trouble seeing it. It's a film with a lot of excess (runtime, clunky narration, and gorgeous shots) but in all that, not a great resolution. Given what I have seen on screen it is hard to see how Bryce and BV have learned from their mistakes except for the new location and fresh start.
I think your passion for this film is amazing and I am glad to have read your review. However I don't think this is a hidden gem of Malick's filmography. I think it's a bad movie that drowns its characters and audiences in misery and betrayal for hours to give us a disappointing and incomplete resolution without clear signs of growth.
I thank you again for the generous reply. I don't want to keep bashing on what is clearly an important film for you. (I just really dislike this film. Not you, so I hope that distinction remains clear lol)
To be fair, there is no equally clear depiction of good to match the evil in Badlands
I still haven't seen it but it's inclusion on the list had me add it to my watchlist. I've seen 5 of Malick's films. Song to Song was my first and remains one of my least favorite films. So I may just be overly biased against it, but I do think it's pretty easily the worst film of his I've seen.
Even Joe's excellent write up of it here does not make me eager to revisit it lol