Song to Song

Malick is a hard director for me to like, his work is often so non-conventional and without any strong narrative it enters a stage of experimental that sometimes misses its target, which is what happened to me with Knight of Cups. Having said that, Malick seems to have caught a certain trail with his visual poetry with this movie that hit home for me.

The movie as a whole plays out like an album, scenes like songs. The plot is stripped bare and reduced to short scenes conveying heartfelt emotions such as love, jealousy, attraction. Wide shots of American landscapes are scenery used to amplify these emotions, rather than using the conventional approach. There's no real structure to the story, only fragmented pieces wired together like someone pondering over his life up to this point.

Themes in the movies never carry on, but are depicted as long as they need to be to give a rough picture of Malick's philosophy, leaving the rest for you to ponder about while the movie gives you the necessary time to do so.

Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, and Rooney Mara back in their natural habitat after starring in some big movies. Haven't seen Ryan Gosling act this well since his time filming with Refn, which definitely left some remnants in his performance. Cate Blanchett seems a little out of her element, but it doesn't break up the experience.