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CHRISTMAS PRESENT
For months I’ve been hoping that the self-consciously heroic trailer for Terrence Malick’s upcoming The New World has been a colossal red herring. Now, I’m thrilled that that seems to the be the case. First, Fox’s Roger Friedman called the film “Pocahontas on acid,” and now comes Robbie Freeling at the Reverse Shot blog:
“Then again, this is still a Malick film, as challenging as ever in its ambitions, even while perhaps functioning as his most accessible narrative. Less historical revisionism than resolutely personal, transcendentalist tone poem (not much of a surprise there), Malick’s fourth picture is adorned with almost nonstop natural beauty, inventive cutting that invites disorienting chronological leaps, and a career-best score by James Horner that swells like the opening strains of a grand symphony that never quite gets started. The New World is technically at least, most like The Thin Red Line, and therefore will not likely be met with across-the-map huzzahs and certain commercial success. Yet I can say without qualm at this early stage, that it’s doubtful there will be a more gorgeous Hollywood film for a good long while — at least until the next Malick movie comes out (circa 2015, if we’re lucky).”
