Knight of Cups

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Kylo S Apr 19, 2019 I hate this movie. It is the most navel-gazing, pretentious film that Terrence Malick, the director of The Tree of Life (2011), has ever made and that's saying something. The difference with this one is that he doesn't say anything in nearly two hours and leaves us questioning as with To the Wonder (2012) whether he has lost his touch as a director and is now making ghastly, unwatchable films nobody exactly. We spend 118 minutes with a shallow, narcissistic protagonist Rick, Christian Bale, that isn't enjoyably dislikable but very annoying. He spends his days and nights with a parade of scantily clad beauties, Isabel Lucas, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots and Freida Pinto. When we get a reprieve from this extended male fantasy it is brief but blissful and this just made me more frustrated with the film because it was clear that these small scenes should have constituted the whole film. Cate Blanchett plays his compassionate ex-wife a doctor who treats burn victims and Wes Bentley and Brian Dennehy play his loose-cannon brother and emotionally detached Father respectively. These two storylines contain tension, comprehensible characters and great acting, something missing from the rest of the film. As with a lot of his other films this is semi-autobiographical and Rick is intended to be similar to the Terrence Malick of the 1970s, a hot-shot screenwriter, Malick worked on early drafts of Dirty Harry (1971, facing a recent divorce and an existential crisis caused by traumatic events from his past. If this was what Terrence Malick was like during that era I would congratulate him for being honest about what a horrible person he was but this does not mean I want to spend hours with this version of him. Instead of being a complicated anti-hero both Rick and Terrence Malick come across as shallow in the way they choose to treat their own â~issues' in this film. This film was shot entirely without a script and this is clear throughout. Why does Malick think this is acceptable? even The Tree of Life featured a nominal screenplay. Through Lubezki's lens everything on screen including Skid Row and a dingy strip club looks impossibly beautiful. But wait, are we not meant to see this beauty as a shallow façade for these empty people looking for genuine emotion in a city that has no desire to provide them with it. It is understood that this is the view we are meant to take but Terrence Malick seems far to seduced by the fake, soul-sucking film industry to really satirize or criticize it in any meaningful way. What is the point of having the best cinematographer currently working poring over every shot in a film if it all amounts to nothing. My biggest issue with the film is it's treatment of women, it is plainly disgusting watching frankly pornographic shots of beautiful young women wandering around half-naked in hotel rooms whilst having no personality or motivation other than pleasing Rick. The exception to this rule, defenders would argue, is Natalie Portman's character who does get her own storyline, she is married and having an affair with Rick, but even she is present to â~save' him and the way that Malick focuses on her extraordinary beauty, with shots of lithe body, instead of the laughable dialogue that Portman is forced to spew shows how little respect he has for his female characters. Malick's early films, Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) focus on sexuality as subtly as both Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek appear fully clothed throughout Badlands and Sam Shepard's sexual desire for Brooke Adams is clouded by his innocence. The women here, other than Blanchett and Portman, are offered no opportunity to craft actual characters, has Malick slowly lost respect for women over time or has this sexism always been underlying? This film is not worth watching under any circumstances, look to Malick's early work to see why he is such a respected director but don't touch this misogynistic garbage parading itself around as meaningful art. It frustrates me that one of my favourite directors could produce something that I regard with such contempt. All actresses involved did not deserve this treatment and it would be much appreciated if Malick would return to more streamlined films in which women are characters instead of objects. The film is deserving of just one star and is lesser than all of Malick's previous works. See more

George M Feb 10, 2019 More nonsensical filmmaking from self-absorbed and vastly over-rated director Terrence Malick. A lot of great talent wasted on an invisible storyline. See more

Abraham R Mar 5, 2018 Another spiritual and aimless movie by Terence Malick starring Christine Bale as Rick along with his other bother, Barry (Wes Bently) had just lost a brother, and is in the grieving process. See more

Draco L Mar 1, 2018 Knight of Cups is a very interesting... poem. It is not a film. Don't let anyone tell you it is a film. If you think this is a film, you'll be very disappointed. If you see this as the kind of thing you'd expect at a gallery, then you'll probably really enjoy it. The cinematography is some of the best I've ever seen, especially in its composition, which floats about like a completely objective observer. I found the repeating narrative to be less tiresome than many others, although I have to admit that there were moments when it was just too dull. The sound editing, if you follow the producer's instructions, is excellent, allowing so much more content and context to be revealed in an auditory fashion. Christian Bale is... in it. He doesn't really give a performance unless you count walking around the screen aimlessly as acting. The supporting cast, however, definitely do, most likely because they actually talk at points. I liked it, but I can see why many would not. See more

Harry R Nov 25, 2017 Terrence Mallick, once again, offers a visually strong and seductively written experience in which cinematography and style are all, just as the good director always remarked, but unfortunately neither its neat imagery and seductive camera work are enough to compensate for a over-realistically pretentious depictions, resulting in an odd art-house flick without the actual substance to stand among other existentialistic takes on the "celebrity dilemmas". See more

Poe L Nov 4, 2017 Knight of Craps = Shift + delete As for me, this director is done. His last best film was 'The New World'. I don't know why someone keeps financing him. It is neither an art and message film, nor has any entertainment value. In one word, total-crap. All the above, these actors agreeing to do the roles. Definitely this director's films have received more boos at Cannes than any others. Not fit for film festivals, as well as theatrical releases. The surprise part was, I saw it. Even after I felt a similar way for his previous film. There's no story. Just a random acts. Even documentary films have a better narrative. Remember a film was being made by Willem Dafoe in the film 'Mr. Bean's Holiday', this is exactly the same film. Except there's no Mr. Bean/Atkinson here to make it a cheerful additional editing. It was like the director woke up in the morning and decided to do what he felt to shoot without a script. I dislike whispering background narration. It is like a lullaby, one might fall into sleep. Not just asleep, but a deep sleep. Direct dialogues between the characters are like an oasis in this film. If you have nothing to do and ready for a slow film, you should not consider it then too, because it is not a film, but a two hour long torture. Easily skippable film. 1.5/10 See more

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Knight of Cups

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