I love Malick's movies

I went through Malick's films chronologically. When I was very green and a young film student I had heard of Badlands and Days of Heaven being cited in many lists, and like any young aspiring cinephile I made it my mission to seek these films out. In the year 2006, whenever I encountered the name Malick it was always followed with mention of Days of Heaven and how poetic and beautiful of a film it was, so naturally I had a certain healthy curiosity about this film in particular. I've always felt like there was a sort of mystical aura surrounding this film, and even long before I actually watched it myself I had heard stories of the gorgeous cinematography, and images from the film haunted my dreams. I've never had an experience like this before or since.

Badlands is a great film by any criteria, and even Malick's most ardent defamers concede the fact that it's a solid film. I loved it, but I never fell in love with it as a piece of art. It's honestly in Days of Heaven where Malick's genius and his artistry come to the fore. If anyone is reading this and is offended by this statement, I'm not going to apologize because this is simply my personal opinion. I think that Days of Heaven is where Malick was able to rely on a more visual form of storytelling and I also think that it's the seed of his modern aesthetic. It's just a completely gorgeous film that is unashamed of how gorgeous it is, and it deals with some weighty and complex emotions in such a serene way. When I first saw it, Linda Manz's voiceovers were a revelation to me and affected me in a way that I've never been able to satisfactorily explain. There are some ugly themes like duplicity and classism inherent in the love triangle that grows between Bill, Abby, and the dying farmer. Poverty is very real, and the consequences of this resulting desperation, namely Bill and Abby's scheme to trick the farmer out of his money, are explored in nuance that's unusual for any conventional film of the era, or even our own era. It's a film that's still ahead of our time let alone its own time. There are elements that are just quintessentially American in character, and it's a period piece to boot. All of this resonates with me very deeply, and I think that Malick's films are an insular variety of cinema that is very personal, and you have to be a certain type of person receptive to these very specific emotions. Needless to say it's not for everyone, and there's plenty of people who hate his films who can attest to that.

Like a kiss, soft, and wild with the delicate steps of petals fallen in a stream