A Terrence Malick Profile

Rory Barker profiles legendary director Terrence Malick...

As a wave of great American filmmakers were unable to continue making films and the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, and John Ford were consigned to history a new, younger generation of US filmmakers emerged. Garnering the golden combination of both commercial success and critical acclaim consistently, this generation - involving Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg - all began releasing major feature films in the 1970s. Although these three filmmakers have become the most famous and sought after directors in contemporary cinema, another auteur that emerged from this generation then to go on to shun the spotlight was Terrence Malick.

Like Spielberg (Duel, 1971), Coppola (The Godfather, 1972) and Scorsese (Mean Streets, 1971), Malick made his first big budget movie Badlands in the 1970's. Badlands drew many comparisons to Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a great American box office success, and therefore may begin to explain Malick's own commercial success with his film. However, what the critics had noticed was a director ignoring classical narrative structure, creating dream like films with perfect scores and idyllic scenery, and emoting a feeling of poetic cinema.

Malick's background, unlike most other successful filmmakers, does not solely involve film. Malick studied philosophy at both Harvard and Oxford University before becoming a professor in the subject at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while also writing articles for noted publications such as Newsweek, Life and The New Yorker. Malick's switch into cinema was a sudden and unusual one, having expressed limited passion of the media prior to wanting to make a film. Malick's first foray into film, the short Lanton Mills (1969), ensured production bosses were happy to grant him a relatively large budget of the time of $450,000, with which he made Badlands.

Once Badlands became accessible to a wider audience, it became clear why Malick had chosen this new career path. Badlands was a highly philosophical film, the majority of which came from Sissy Spacek's character, 15 year-old Holly. Providing an ignorant but thoughtful voiceover throughout the film, she displays a simplistic yet insightful view into the actions and reactions of Kit (Martin Sheen), her narcissistic serial killing lover. The film makes several intelligent points on society, many of which are still relevant today including the depiction of Kit, whose moral conscience is non-existent due to his desire to be of importance or even famous. This investigation into the need for fame is one that reverberates around society today, over 35 years after the release of Badlands.

Malick's next film Days of Heaven (1978) was released five years after Badlands and drew many similarities. The setting was once again evocative and filmed artistically, proving integral in the quality of the film with Malick once again painting the American mid-west in an extraordinary light. There was also a repeating classical score, and another parallel was the narration throughout by a teenage girl with a heavy accent, Sissy Spacek being replaced in Days of Heaven by Linda, portrayed by Linda Manz. The film stars Richard Gere as young, handsome farmhand Bill, a role that was turned down by several up and coming actors of the time including Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and finally John Travolta (scheduling conflicts).

This was Gere's breakthrough role and the one that brought him to the attention of the American public and Hollywood producers alike. Gere's character Bill is in love with Abby (Brooke Adams) and travels the Midwest with her and her younger sister Linda until they come to work for a farmer, played by Sam Sheppard. A love triangle emerges between Bill, Abby and the farmer, with Malick incorporating silent movie techniques in order to display their relationships, the film surprisingly lacking in dialogue. This triangle has drastic consequences as Malick revisits the themes of morality being disregarded by intense feelings with a dramatic climax.

After the making of Days of Heaven came Malick's strangest action yet. He had already been famed for shunning the limelight, making films and then never taking part in any of the press involved, but he put this reclusive nature into a new stratosphere as he disappeared from the film industry for the next 20 years. His whereabouts never properly confirmed to this day, though rumours that he taught in France for the full period may well be true.

Malick finally returned with his much anticipated World War II film The Thin Red Line (1998), based on the James Jones novel of the same name. This film was eagerly anticipated by critics and Malick enthusiasts who held his previous works in such high regard, but was overshadowed among Hollywood and the American public by Spielberg’s spiralling WWII morality tale Saving Private Ryan (1998). The Thin Red Line nonetheless secured seven Oscar nominations (though not winning any) and included an all-star cast with big names such as John Travolta, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Jim Caveziel, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Adrien Brody, John Cusack, John C. Reilly and Nick Nolte. On top of this, Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Viggo Mortenson and Gary Oldman found themselves flying out to Australia and the Solomon Islands for an extensive shoot only to find their scenes end up on the cutting room floor among at least 6 hours of footage never to be seen.

The extensive casting, along with over a million feet of film shot, was only part of the confusion during production. Malick argued vehemently with the film's producers Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau, resulting in him banning them from the set of the film, as well as the Oscar ceremony. Whether the final product is what he originally set out to make based on James Jones novel is debatable, but there is no argument that the film is anything but typical Malick. His defining style of picturesque locations on a philosophical subject and once again investigating the morality of his characters creates a mesmerizing final film that leaves fans eager to see more of what has been left on the cutting room floor. There is also the voice over narrative - another Malick trait - particularly from Jim Caveziel's character, who in the final film seems to be the lead character and the one most identifiable to the audience.

Malick went on to make The New World (2005), his least successful film. Malick's own take on the story of Pocahontas, The New World features Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, David Thewlis and Christian Bale - the stars once again desperate to be a part of one of his few films. The film follows the Malick guidelines of being set in picturesque locations and a particular era of history, another trademark of his films. These trademarks, which have become apparent through his body of work, ensures that Terrence Malick remains one of the great auteurs in contemporary American film industry, and begins to explain why this talented director decided to switch the focus of his career from philosophy to film.

Although Malick's films are few and far between, his distinctive style and his disdain for making a film following classical narrative guidelines means that he has become one of the greatest and most sought after directors of all time.

Terrence Malick is currently in post production for his new film The Tree of Life, currently scheduled for a 2010 release and starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, with Pitt taking over after Heath Ledger's untimely death just before filming began.

Rory Barker

Badlands is available on DVD from LoveFilm.com for only £3.73 including postage.

British Cinema - Naked (1993)

Naked, 1993.

Directed by Mike Leigh.
Starring David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp and Ewen Bremner.


SYNOPSIS:

Naked follows Johnny (Thewlis) a highly articulate and intelligent loner who drifts through the backstreets of London taking part in violent sex, living on the streets and eloquently engaging everyone in conversation to completely different reactions from each stranger.


Naked is the dark and turgid story of Johnny, played by David Thewlis. Fleeing revenge for the apparent rape of a woman in Manchester, Johnny steals the girl’s family car and drives to London to meet his ex-girlfriend Louise. Johnny enters into a drifter lifestyle as he stalks through the streets of London at night, engaging in violent sex with anyone that he can seduce including Louise’s gothic and lonely housemate Sophie, who quickly falls in love with him. Johnny is an intelligent but disturbed man with apparent mental as well as physical illnesses which are referred to in the film but are never revealed. It is clear though that Johnny is an extremely troubled man with no direction in life.

Writer and director Mike Leigh presents us with this troubled character and veers away from the classical narrative of Johnny 'finding himself' for the better in this film; instead he portrays Johnny as he continues his destructive actions all the way until the climax of this disheartening story. The film’s dialogue was developed in a particularly unusual way with Thewlis improvising almost the entirety of his lines in rehearsals, which were later written into script format by Leigh before filming began. This surely enabled Leigh and Thewlis to construct the lead protagonist in precisely the way they wanted to present him. This style of developing a script and characters is one that has become associated with Leigh, as he uses his experience of directing in theatres and translates this to his work in film.

Although Naked is not Leigh's best known or celebrated film - with titles such as Secrets and Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004) and most recently, Happy Go Lucky (2008) among his credits - Naked is considered by many Leigh enthusiasts (myself included) as his sharpest, most poignant film, and therefore his best work. Like all of his films Leigh once again enters into the British genre of 'kitchen-sink realism', low budget stories depicting social realism - a movement which Leigh, in addition to fellow British director Ken Loach, have become the faces for.

Naked is such a stark and brutal film, dealing with themes of violence, theft, rape and even characters' own mortality. Johnny is a violent, immoral character, although the audience is led to sympathise with him as he is cruelly beaten twice, and also because of the character of Jeremy. Although Jeremy has limited camera time he leaves a lasting expression as a materialistic businessman and landlord to Louise and Sophie. He is presented as having no redeeming features at all, Leigh ensuring that the wealthy character is portrayed in as negative light as possible, indulging in more on-screen violent rape than Johnny. The style of portraying the upper class negatively in comparison to the working class is once again a trend in the kitchen-sink realist genre of British cinema, often displaying the working class with much more depth of character than enjoyed by the upper class characters. Leigh characterises his lower class characters with far more affection and detail, therefore ensuring the audience are always drawn towards these people above the wealthier ones.

Overall Naked is an astonishingly original film, depicting a bleak and vicious London of which Mancunian scoundrel Johnny seems only a small part of the problem. The movie offers very little for the audience to smile about, apart from a few witty comments from Johnny, sarcastically undermining other characters at every opportunity. What Leigh and Thewlis have created together defies the idea that the conventional film is the superior, each rewarded with their efforts achieving Best Director and Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, and rightly so. Naked leaves viewers with a bitter taste in their mouths, desperate to discover more of Johnny’s turbulent life while unable to stomach his actions and depression-ridden thoughts.

Rory Barker

Classic Movies - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.

Directed by Frank Capra.
Starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore.


SYNOPSIS:

On the verge of suicide after finding out he might be bankrupt, George Bailey is visited by guardian angel Clarence on a mission to save George’s life, thereby getting his angel wings. Clarence displays to George what life would be like in his small hometown of Bedford Falls should he get his wish of wanting never to be born. George is devastated at the turmoil suffered by those he holds most dearly in his life without his influence or intervention and desperately seeks a second chance at living again, his desire to end his life replaced now with a renewed vigour and wonder at the world he previously felt so disappointed by.


Often considered the archetypal Christmas film and grouped within other Christmas classics such as White Christmas (1954), Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Home Alone (1990), It’s a Wonderful Life surprisingly deals with themes of redemption, industrialization and even suicide. The dark side of this film though does not detract from the end result, a world class example of the ‘feel good film’ which ensures the viewer discovers the importance and wonders of life as much as lead protagonist George Bailey does.

The film somehow infuses and incorporates the genres of fantasy, romance, drama and family into one heart warming tale, promoting community spirit while painting the continued commercialisation of small town America in a negative light. It’s a Wonderful Life was originally a flop financially, not reaching break-even point at the box office. Similarly to The Shawshank Redemption (1994), It’s a Wonderful Life garnered its now world famous reputation by its television rights being picked up relatively cheaply by an American television broadcaster, therefore enabling the company to show the film as frequently as they would like, ensuring It’s a Wonderful Life became a staple part of the celebration of Christmas for the everyday American family. This blossoming reputation quickly turned to world wide adoration and thus It’s a Wonderful Life eventually became the greatest Christmas film of all time.

Set as well as made immediately after WWII, director Frank Capra adapted Phillip Van Doren Stern’s short story “The Greatest Gift” to the screen in an attempt to promote American everyday life and alleviate the doom and gloom suffered by the public during the war. Capra had already proved himself as Hollywood’s number one feel good movie director with previous successes Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) but It’s a Wonderful Life is considered his greatest achievement. Lead actor James Stewart himself had recently returned from service in the army both as a private as well as a pilot and this was his first post war performance, five years after his last film role. The post war feeling in the US was crucial in both the production of this film which attempted to delight American filmgoers while also was a detriment to the success of It’s a Wonderful Life, audiences not wanting the darker aspects involved in the film such as suicide brought to their attention at an already difficult time.

The film has become one of the all time treasures of Hollywood cinema and is an excellent example of the superb work achieved by both Capra and Stewart throughout their careers. Stewart’s George Bailey is now considered something of an American hero, abandoning his own dreams of professional success and travelling the world for the good of his own community, fending off the financial stranglehold of tycoon Henry F. Potter played to infuriating perfection by Hollywood stalwart Lionel Barrymore. Their intense business as well as personal rivalry is the conflict which provides an ideal catalyst for the plot, climaxing in Potter stealing money from Bailey’s company, forcing him to bankruptcy and the desire to end his life.

It’s a Wonderful Life comes across as a glorious success which exemplifies everything positive about Hollywood filmmaking; the happy ending is justified within the film as a whole, and somehow avoids an argument of the film seeming too unlikely or staged. Although it may have not achieved its original goal, over the years it has emerged as a gem of American cinema as well as considered the greatest Christmas film ever. Accolades are emptied by the bucket-load towards the direction of both Capra and Stewart, and this is considered quite rightly among of the best of each of their work.

Rory Barker

World Cinema - The 400 Blows (1959)

The 400 Blows, 1959.

Directed by François Truffaut.
Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud.


SYNOPSIS:

The 400 Blows follows normal adolescent boy Antoine Doinel as he struggles to contend with all authority figures in his life, from schoolteachers to parents. As we are invited into this character study of Antoine it becomes increasingly clear that he is already disillusioned with life at his young age, and the film also uncovers the ineffectual dealings of the French government with juvenile offenders.


In this semi-autobiographical directorial debut, François Truffaut writes and directs a film light-years apart from the norm of French cinema at the time, which he had argued so aggressively against in the magazine Cahiers du Cinema (he was subsequently banned from the Cannes Film Festival in 1958). Needing to prove that he in fact could create a superior film to those which he argued so strongly against, Truffaut debuted with the imperious The 400 Blows, coming through this test with flying colours and creating his own brand of character based cinema as well as defining French New Wave cinema in one masterstroke. Based loosely on Truffaut’s own upbringing in the suburbs of Paris, The 400 Blows depicts Antoine Doinel as a disillusioned young tearaway, ignored by his parents and chastised at school, which ultimately results in him falling into the hands of the authorities in a young offenders institute.

Antoine lives a mistreated life with his mother, a distant, harsh figure with little interest in the day to day activities of Antoine and his stepfather, a seemingly jovial man who is revealed as someone with little love for Antoine and no interest in declaring the child as his own. They live together in a cramped apartment in Paris, with barely enough room for Antoine to sleep and nowhere near enough room for the three of them not to get on each others nerves. Antoine becomes increasingly disenfranchised with this situation when, while playing truant from school, he sees his mother kissing another man. After being repeatedly punished at school for his trouble making behaviour, Antoine eventually decides to run away, living at first with his school friend René and then fending for himself out on the streets until he is arrested and imprisoned at a juvenile detention centre.

Antoine’s life of petty crime materialises because of his lack of direction and boredom, rather than any malicious side of his personality, something which is displayed subtly but effectively in this character study. This is particularly evident in a superb scene where Antoine is in the juvenile detention prison, answering questions from a psychiatrist who we hear but do not see. This scene draws the audience towards Antoine, as his honesty and intelligence shines through despite his neglected upbringing. The performance of Jean-Pierre Léaud as the troubled runaway is what provides Antoine with this natural likeability in his first film role. Léaud incorporates much of his own demeanour into the performance of Doinel and was even encouraged to adlib and improvise by Truffaut, who was immediately impressed with the young actor whose mannerisms increased the overall reality of the film. Léaud proved so popular with Truffaut and other directors of the time that he quickly became the poster boy of the French New Wave, acting in several films for Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard for many years to come.

This film is rightly considered to be not only one of the best French films but one of the greatest of world cinema, and one which defined a generation. Truffaut’s wonderfully original, highly acclaimed film launched his career, as well as that of lead actors Léaud, and spawned several sequels and imitations, none of which live up to the complete quality and originality of The 400 Blows. Truffaut went on to make many other great films but The 400 Blows is often considered his masterpiece and, as it is semi-autobiographical, it is the one for which he will always be remembered.

Rory Barker

British Cinema - Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Dead Man’s Shoes, 2004.

Directed by Shane Meadows.
Starring Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch and Toby Kebbel.

SYNOPSIS:

Richard, an intense loner and former soldier, returns to his native Midlands village seeking vengeance against the small-time drug dealers who cruelly bullied his mentally disabled brother Anthony while he was away on duty. Richard’s determination to achieve a full and brutal revenge results in an ominous conclusion to the street criminals who toil unsuccessfully to avoid his wrath.

Shane Meadows secured his position as Britain’s brightest new director with this haunting revenge tale which enthrals the viewer from beginning to end, using severe violence and disgustingly inhumane behaviour from characters each side of the conflict. Co-written by director Meadows and lead actor Considine, the opening line from Richard (Considine) reads “God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that." This sets the scene for the entire film, a simple but compelling story of revenge in which the viewer finds himself sympathising with a seemingly psychotic serial killer as his mental state deteriorates in front of our eyes.

Released a year after Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and the same year as Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Dead Man’s Shoes incorporates many of the same themes and the plot develops similarly. The avenger as our lead protagonist - intent on revenge and mass-murdering their former wrongdoers - is common across these films, with the viewer somehow finding themselves sympathising with the brutality. There are however stark contrasts between the films, differences which ensure that to my mind, Dead Man’s Shoes must be considered a superior film. Tarantino’s style-over-substance, enormous-budget melodrama is in direct opposition to Meadows’ low-budget kitchen-sink thriller, which focuses on character relationships over stylistic content. These complicated relationships include Richard’s love and care for his younger, mentally disabled brother Anthony, an innocent but kind simpleton, as well as flashback scenes which demonstrate Anthony’s prior involvement with the local petty crooks.

Although Dead Man’s Shoes may be considered a melodrama, this does not detract from the intelligence of Meadows’ work. A film which demonstrates several gruesome murders as acceptable must be considered advanced, with the movie exuding a constant haunting nature, from the black and white flashback scenes (a technique often used by Meadows) to Richard’s now seemingly extinct army gas mask. Considine’s performance as the lead character Richard is as strong as it can be and Toby Kebbell gives a superb performance as the mentally challenged Anthony, unfathomably in his first film role. His performance might not equal the world-class depictions of a mentally challenged character such as Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988) or Sean Penn in I am Sam (2001), but nonetheless is still extremely touching, vulnerable and most importantly, believable (with Kebbell recognised as Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards).

Overall this film is a stunning achievement by Meadows; an underrated thriller which deserves its place among the best of contemporary British cinema. It is a must see for all Brits with a love for film but still transcends to a wider audience because of its easily communicated themes. It is low-budget British filmmaking through and through with a gritty, realistic style that leaves audiences hoping Meadows stays this side of the Atlantic for many years to come.

Rory Barker

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