Rick’s Flicks Picks » This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Terrence Malick & David Gordon Green

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Terrence Malick & David Gordon Green

17 09 2008

With the arrival of David Gordon Green’s latest drama, SNOW ANGELS, on DVD this Tuesday, this week seemed like a great time to look at two filmmakers who share the same tone. Green has said that he has been influenced by the work of Terrence Malick, a filmmaker who has only made four feature films since his debut production BADLANDS in 1973. Green has made five features since his debut film GEORGE WASHINGTON in 2000. His latest, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, was a great diversion from his typical material. The five films chosen for this profile capture the epic feel of their work, which paint poetic imagery to tell their simple, yet deep, stories.

SNOW ANGELS is Green’s bleak look at marital problems and how they affect the couple’s children. Kate Beckinsale plays Annie, a waitress who is separated from her alcoholic turned born-again Christian husband Glenn, played powerfully by Sam Rockwell. In a parallel story, the film follows Annie’s high-school-aged co-worker Arthur (Michael Angarano), who is dealing with his parents’ separation while embarking on a new romance with the new girl (Olivia Thirlby). As I said in my original review, “There’s a sweet romance woven into this tragic drama that reminds us that turbulent relationships probably started beautifully at the beginning.” Signifying Green’s attention to realism, he doesn’t simply paint Annie as a victim in her failed marriage, but a participant as well. He also highlights the harsh realities of being a single parent taking care of a small child. Working with his constant collaborator cinematographer Tim Orr, Green finds beauty and haunting melancholy within the small town wintry environment of the story. It’s a powerful tale about lost hope and the hope that love can conquer all.

THE THIN RED LINE starts the Saturday lineup with an epic bang. After dropping out of the film scene for 20 years, Terrence Malick returned with this allegorical war film. In grand fashion, the film chronicles the war experiences of a large group of soldiers. As I said in my original review, “The film captures a range of feelings and thoughts about war from the pointlessness of it all, to personal reasons for fighting, to how it affects the men, to war’s randomness.” The central character is Private Witt, played in an ironically Christ-like performance by future PASSION OF THE CHRIST star James Caviezel. He has gone AWOL and is living peacefully with a native tribe. He is found by bitter first sergeant Edward Welsh (Sean Penn), who gives the soldier a second chance. The all-star cast also features Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, John Cusack, George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly and John Travolta. Malick, with DP John Toll this time, has a way of mixing gorgeous nature photography with images of poetic apocalyptic intensity. This feel matches well the story’s move from planning to combat to reflection as it moves from one battle to the next. The tagline for the film is quite fitting — Each man fights his own war.

Malick and Green actually worked together on the Saturday closer, UNDERTOW. Malick produced and Green directed the Southern drama about two boys who go on the run after a family feud turns bloody. As I said in my original review, “I always like the look of Green’s films, which captures the rundown, but mysteriously beautiful, look of depressed small town life.” As for story, the “siblings on the run” plot harkens back to Charles Laughton’s cult classic NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. Jamie Bell’s Chris and Devon Alan’s Tim meet a collection of curious characters along their journey, which highlights the trials and tribulations of family life. It’s a film about dealing with hardships and how the people we love can make the healing process easier or far less so.

Malick’s masterpiece DAYS OF HEAVEN begins the final stretch of This Weekend’s Film Festival. The look of Malick’s films is the most direct influence on the work of Green. As I said in my original review of DAYS OF HEAVEN, “The gorgeous cinematography can be pastoral and soothing and then change to brooding and apocalyptic.” Told from the point of view of the teenaged Linda, the story follows the teen’s brother Bill (Richard Gere) and his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) as they take jobs on the land of a lonely farmer (Sam Shepard). Thinking that Abby is Bill’s sister, the farmer takes a liking to the woman and Bill believes a marriage will set them up financially for life. Malick filmed the exteriors mostly during the “magic hour” at sunset and sunrise, giving the film a golden glow. From the biblical invasion of grasshoppers to the frightening flames on the fields at night, the imagery remains vivid in the viewer’s mind like the days of heaven on the farm remain in the mind of the young lead who has seen a great deal of bad days in her life.

Green’s ALL THE REAL GIRLS closes this week’s lineup. This ode to firsts in love and in sex portrays a young romance with natural honesty. Paul (Paul Schneider) is a notorious womanizer, but now in his late-20s is beginning to see the advantages of taking love seriously. Noel (Zooey Deschanel) is the sister of Paul’s friend who has just returned from boarding school. They have known each other their whole lives, but have never acted on their feelings for each other, or possibly never noticed them until now. For one of them the relationship feels safe. Green’s ear for dialogue makes Paul and Noel’s talks about their growing feelings direct, hopeful and serious. The director richly fills out his cast, creating supporting characters whose opinion and influence really matter in the lives of the new lovers. In combining these elements, Green so perfectly captures both the hope and the heartache of young love. As I said in my original review, “The images of dilapidated buildings add a simple sadness to the whole film that is kind of like a country Western ballad – it saddens your heart but puts a smile on your face because you know how true it all is.”

If you’re just getting introduced to the work of Malick and Green, tell me what you think. If you already love their work, tell me how it makes you feel. So to get your tickets to This Weekend’s Film Festival head out to the video store, update the Netflix queue, check out Zap2It.com for TV listings or help support the site by buying the films on DVD at the below links.