Letterboxd — Your life in film

Third viewing. I don’t typically use words like “rapturous” or “transfixed”, but I feel like I need to here. I just sit there slack-jawed for 90 minutes. I don’t know how you can make a biblical, romantic prairie drama have such momentum. This is the first Terrence Malick movie I ever saw, and I still think it’s his best. I have to keep it in my top three, up there with Out of the Past and Heat.

OUT OF THE PAST! Virginia Huston has a small role, lines-wise, but it’s our identification with her that’s the heart, the emotional pivot for the whole thing. Sigh. Why can’t we be better?

Incredible. Amazing, amazing performance from Denis Lavant. There’s no traditional plot, but the structure involves Lavant’s character being driven around Paris in a limousine to a series of appointments, each one requiring a different costume, makeup, identity, and performance. The logic is bent and ambiguous. A couple hours of mad and weird invention, wholly invigorating.

Pacino > De Niro.

Ridiculously spectacular, most especially the visuals and the acting. Lots of good laugh lines, too. I’m very grateful I got to see this on a big theater screen. I didn’t realize the new 4K restoration was showing in Atlanta until a few hours beforehand. Totally lucked out. What a great experience.

Also, David Lean? This, Doctor Zhivago, and Brief Encounter? There’s a resume for you. I need see some more of his work.

Such a damn good movie. Every bit as good as the first time. It has the perfect balance between feeding you information and leaving you in the dark. Who knows what to do next? And I love the little moments of life in the Ozarks: splitting firewood, hunting, neighbors looking after each other, cooking. Between this and Martha Marcy May Marlene, I’ve got to find some more stuff with John Hawkes.

Re-watched. Re-loved. Still near the top of my all-time list.

Dang. Like Alien, this one holds up so, so well. Incredible movie. Cast, sets (!), sound, score. I love the eye imagery and symbolism throughout. Themes of empathy, memory, humanity. Deckard has a sweet bachelor pad. I’d never seen the Final Cut before. If I were more of a jerk, right around now I’d take a second to mention how bad Prometheus was in comparison. Night and day.

Yep. Had to make sure. Still love it.