Comment by rdtsc
9 hours ago
He is definitely a director's director. The people who study cinema like him, people who become young directors and cinematographers like him, college professors teaching cinematography like him, but is he definitely not for the general audience.
I completely understand why your average moviegoer (is there such a group of people any more?) would walk out of his movies.
When Thin Red Line came out (1998) I saw it a few times in the theaters, then Saving Private Ryan came out about the same year, and I remember having interesting debates with my friends about which one was a "better" war movie. It was this perfect A/B study. They found Thin Red Line completely boring and terrible: no main hero, one who is sort of the main character dies senselessly in the end (well he sacrificed himself, but it wasn't with any sense of bravado or anything). And my point was, that's kind how war is: there are no heroes and people die senselessly and often stupidly, and there is a lot of boredom and sitting around waiting, too.
> This kind of earnestness stood out in an age of relentless irony and snark.
That's why I like him. And to be fair, I am the first one to enjoy relentless irony and snark, but on a deeper level I realize it's also unhealthy and often is an escape from something terrible or a way of distancing from what's happening, so when something more honest and authentic some about, I pay attention.
I wanted to appreciate Malick's films out of a sense of intellectual snobbery, but it was too difficult for me. And I think most people who love his films appreciate them in a snobbish way; they really try to convince themselves that it is great cinema.
The Thin Red Line had some good moments, but it clearly came together in the editing room--but in the end, it came together only somewhat and weakly. He had hours of scattered footage (famously, a couple of major characters/actors had 90% of their planned screening time reduced in the final release), and in the editing room, he was trying to make sense of it, but unsuccessfully. What somebody interpreted as genius, I saw as disorganization, poor planning, and imprecise editing.
Well, someone may say, when talking about The Thin Red Line, that's what war is: confusing, boring most of the time, very violent in bursts. But that is akin to saying that life is mostly about eating and using the bathroom and doing pedestrian stuff and cleaning counters. But most of us, and not because we are simpletons, don't go to movies to see actors doing chores. It might be for others, but not for me.