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Thankful for nonlinear and avant-garde films from major filmmakers

posted 9 years ago by wearyourlove
6 replies | jump to latest

I'm just so thankful for major contemporary filmmakers like Malick who challenge us to reassess how we watch and think about movies. His rejection of narrative and linearity is brilliantly liberating even when the film in question is uneven, which, admittedly, I think Knight of Cups is. But no other high profile American director right now is imploring us to look at the world and visual media itself with as fresh eyes as Malick. He doesn't impose artificial structures on experience, instead allowing us to fall into a free-form cascade of images which we can mold in our minds like clay. He doesn't tell us what to think. He doesn't pacify us or flatter our beliefs. He doesn't comply with the banality of Western storytelling convention or ideology. He is truly sui generis in an era of so much stultifying, homogenized, calcified "entertainment."

Say what you will about Malick, but he's more valuable to the evolution of media culture than nearly every filmmaker working out of Hollywood, and probably beyond, too. We need that.

[–] violence_and_electronic_music 9 years ago

I feel like his films are more about vibes now. The emotions and experiences you get out of a scene tell you more about the plot than the actual narrative. I appreciate the empathetic nature of his films. Everyone is fighting their own battles, his film's time periods span over hundreds of years, but the emotions within in them are timeless. His films are sublime and in my opinion, holy.

[–] wearyourlove 9 years ago

Yeah, I'd call them impressionistic. Sensations over stories. Few filmmakers evoke the quality of spontaneous experience as well, putting you in the middle of a moment as it's occurring, not knowing what could happen next.

[–] joshbugg817 9 years ago

I'm thankful for people like you. Film can be anything, there are no limits, no boundaries.

Xenophobia sucks!

[–] Eddie_Fingers 9 years ago

Malick is the epitome of visual storytelling. Film is a visual art and Malick really takes that literally in the best possible way and reminds us the true purpose of cinema. So many filmmakers today rely heavily on the script--plot, dialogue, action--and CGI and character interactions, and all of the superficial things that have come to define modern cinema. All of these things have taken center stage to the actual art of filmmaking to the point where film as a visual medium is almost lost. Malick reminds his audience where the art of film came from and how to use it effectively. He reminds us that a simple image can portray more emotion than any line of dialogue or any amount of exposition. A picture truly says a thousand words in a Malick film. Thank God we will have directors like him.

"This life's hard, man, but it's harder if you're stupid!"

[–] scorsese-1 8 years ago

I agree. I love Malick's style of directing.

[–] ljshorts 9 years ago

Indeed.