To the Wonder

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Han M Apr 19, 2019 This is Terrence Malick's most boring film, a dull slog that is painful to watch even as beautiful people are shot in flattering lights whilst frolicking in stunning landscapes. I really question certain decisions that Malick made in his direction of the film, namely the casting of Ben Affleck, the almost complete cutting out of Rachel McAdams and the terribly paced relationship arc that Affleck's character and Olga Kurylenko's Marina go through. His own uncertainty about the direction of the film is clear throughout and this leaves us with a beautiful but shallow mess that is almost impossible to remain engaged with. Affleck and Kurylenko play a couple, each with apparently very different interests, she is a Parisian with a daughter from a previous relationship and he is a passive Oklahoman with fear of commitment. We see the three of them spend a whole summer together in Oklahoma but when it comes to an end Affleck fails to commit to Kurylenko. After a brief tryst with McAdams, his childhood sweetheart, Affleck calls for Kurylenko, who has now lost custody of her child, and they are married in Oklahoma. As Kurylenko begins to feel increasingly trapped in her new lifestyle, Affleck ponders whether he is ready to spend the rest of his life with this woman. Oh, and Javier Bardem shows up as a Priest having a spiritual crisis, as you do in a Malick film, whose voiceover narrates the story of the couple. For a film that is supposedly based on personal experiences, several critics have theorized the film is based on the breakdown of his relationship with his second wife Michele Morette, the film is cold and detached. Malick's other personal films, even the abysmal Knight of Cups (2015), are not as disinterested or loathing of their characters and clear backstories are given to explain why certain people appear damaged, Rick in the aforementioned Knight of Cups has been traumatized by the brutal suicide of his brother and his distant relationship with his Father. None of this detailing is presenting in this film and therefore we are supremely annoyed or just indifferent to these characters whose faces we focus on for the majority of the film and for whom we are clearly meant to care. Their increasingly difficult relationship is hard to care about when we don't have any real sense of who they are outside of it even as we see Kurylenko's daughter briefly and this creates a film that is very difficult to feel intense emotion for other than apathy. Affleck is at best a stolid leading man and manages to be almost completely blank throughout this film, failing to express any real emotion even as his voiceover literally tells us how he is feeling. Kurylenko is slightly more successful at injecting some sense of life into her character but as she is seen mostly from Affleck's perspective, running ahead of him in fields and throwing her hands in the air in a gesture signifying belief in higher beings. I wish that Kurylenko had been used in one of Malick's earlier, more streamlined projects, it is clear that she has immense talents as an actress but her roles in Max Payne (2008) and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) don't leave her much room to use her dramatic skills. Bardem is by no means bad in his role and he is clearly trying his hardest to inject a real sense of pain into his character's words but the points at which he is dropped in contribute to the pacing issues of the film and feel more like an interruption than a cohesive part of the story. McAdams, one of the finest actresses of her generation, is poorly used as a character who was clearly meant to be a larger part of the film but was mostly cut from the finished product as were a cadre of other stars such as Rachel Weisz and Jessica Chastain. The film seems entirely unfocused as we swing between a man who embodies nothing and a woman only seen an object for the male to gaze upon, had he drawn either of these figures with more specificity perhaps we could have cared more. It goes without saying that the cinematography is stunning as Emmanuel Lubezki takes even the most mundane environment, suburban Oklahoma, and makes it visually gorgeous. The unfortunate thing about this is that the cinematography stands alone as one of the few positive elements of the film and instead of being able to sit back and immerse myself in the experience I found myself thinking about how hard it would have been to capture certain shots just to take my mind of the story. I would not recommend this film to anybody unless they are desperate to see more of Lubezki's work but Song to Song (2017) and the New World (2005) are far superior collaborations with Malick and feature stunning imagery and compelling storylines. This film is the turning point at which Malick's style begins to take precedent over the substance of his films and it is disappointing to see this previously ambitious director make a film so empty. It is better than Knight of Cups (2015) but that is a low, low bar. See more

Luke W Apr 3, 2019 You can try to be artistic and psychological all you want ... No amount of fantasy or love of creative camera work can make this film worth 117 minutes of human life. This is simply a piece of crap. See more

Theodore S Mar 29, 2019 Everything is pretty - but that's about all. Without much dialogue or action - there's nothing left to move you except some great shots. See more

Kylo L Mar 20, 2019 Everyone knows just how wonderful Terrence Mallick can be but this is laughable. It borders on self pardoy at times and is truly boring to watch as the viewer. Watch the 'Tree of Life' instead trust me. See more

Hermione W Dec 25, 2018 The most terrible movie I've seen so far. Even in the little details the screw ups are really annoying. Marina speaks Russian (usually some nonsense) at times and then it says on the screen that she speaks French. So the audience Is taken for a fool, I suppose. I regret time and $3,50 I spent to rent the movie. Nothing beautiful in it, although I realize that the director tried to portray something unusually deep. One star for the try. See more

Kylo S Nov 25, 2018 It has beautiful cinematography with a score to match but it's narrative is so thin and disjointed it feels as if it's none existent and the film is emotionally unrewarding. See more

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To the Wonder

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