When Terrence Malick released The Tree Of Life in mid-2011 it was the acclaimed director’s fifth film in 40 years. So the fact that his most recent film, To The Wonder, premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week, and he is currently shooting two more films back-to-back, has left many wondering what is going on. Is Malick in love? Is Malick on pot? Is Malick in debt? Whatever the reason, the master is in epic form and it’s an incredible thing to see.
The Playlist’s Oliver Lyttelton was in Venice last week for the highly anticipated premiere of To The Wonder (starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel McAdams) and in his review he writes: “They’re all characters with a void in their existence (like Penn in ‘The Tree of Life’), and it hit us on a gut level. Because for all of the glorious landscapes and images, it’s also a film of real, searing feeling, but not necessarily in the way you might expect. If one buys into the reports that Neil is something of a surrogate for Malick’s character, it’s rather fascinating the way that the director ultimately focuses on Marina, a generous and unexpected perspective, and one that, without psychoanalyzing the filmmaker too much, seems to be a way of airing his regrets about past actions. It’s also unexpectedly sexy in places. Malick’s always been one of the more sensual filmmakers out there, but there’s a bona-fide eroticism at work in places here.”
You can read the full review entitled “Terrence Malick’s ‘To The Wonder’ Is A Raw & Heartfelt Film Of Loss And Longing” by visiting The Playlist. Predictably, there is zero footage of To The Wonder to be found online, so to tide you over is a clip of Olga Kurylenko at a Venice press conference for the film, and some other Malick goodies for added measure. To The Wonder premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10th and will be released wide later this year.
