Comments on: Discovery and awe in Terrence Malick’s ‘The New World’ https://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/discovery-and-awe-in-terrence-malicks-the-new-world/ Movie Reviews That Rock Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:47:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 By: Eric Melin https://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/discovery-and-awe-in-terrence-malicks-the-new-world/#comment-20667 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:47:39 +0000 http://www.scene-stealers.com/index-wp.php/?p=313#comment-20667 Yeah, I can get that. The way I got into the character was by putting myself in their shoes, especially Pocahontas. If everything in the movie was strange and new to her, it was to me as well.

Agreed on “Blood” and “Ballast,” for sure, although “Blood” has a significant amount of conflict and plot I would argue. I’m thinking after I watch the extended cut of “The New World,” I need to return to the comments section and update some thoughts…

]]> By: dbmurray https://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/discovery-and-awe-in-terrence-malicks-the-new-world/#comment-20655 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:01:37 +0000 http://www.scene-stealers.com/index-wp.php/?p=313#comment-20655 Well, it’s not that I require a certain pace or a significant amount of action for a film to be memorable.

_There Will Be Blood_ was slow paced, but that film stuck with me.

An even better comparison might be _Ballast_ (2008). It’s about a totally different subject and made on a considerably smaller budget than _The New World_, but it uses a “truthful moments adding up to a bigger whole” approach to storytelling. It got my attention.

So, it’s not really Malick’s method or the film’s slow pace that turns me off so much. It’s more an issue of the general effect. I honestly didn’t care any more or less for the characters in the last scene than I did in the first scene.

]]> By: Eric Melin https://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/discovery-and-awe-in-terrence-malicks-the-new-world/#comment-20646 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:23:07 +0000 http://www.scene-stealers.com/index-wp.php/?p=313#comment-20646 David- I will say this about Malick’s films: You need to put yourself in the right frame of mind before watching them. You can’t expect a visceral Ridley Scott-style historical epic.

Malick extracts the bits of the myth that suit his purposes and then slows down time to make the viewer witness life as it may have unfolded back then. It certainly isn’t plot-driven and it’s not bombastic in any way. Like ‘The Tree of Life,’ it’s about a bunch of little truthful moments adding up to a bigger whole.

I’m so in love with this movie that I just recently bought the Extended Cut (more slow-moving beautiful cinematography!) and am really looking forward to it.

]]> By: dbmurray https://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/discovery-and-awe-in-terrence-malicks-the-new-world/#comment-20642 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:44:32 +0000 http://www.scene-stealers.com/index-wp.php/?p=313#comment-20642 It’s been several years since I watched this film, but all I can remember is John Smith walking through a field of grain running his fingers through the grain…this all shot from behind, and it went on forever.

To me, a great film is one that impacts you to the point that you can remember substantial story elements. I don’t just mean catch phrases like “I’m ya huckleberry” or “I’ll make him and offer he can’t refuse.” There should be something notable about the way the story connected.

Instead, the memory that stuck with me most about _The New World_ is that I wished I had rented something else.

If I had not read your thoughts just now, I would have sworn this movie was about Christopher Columbus rather than John Smith. I suppose I was vaguely remembering that Christopher Plummer was one of the actors.

At any rate, that’s how little I took away from the film.

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