NEW ON THE BIG SCREEN / SONG TO SONG
DRAMA. With RYAN GOSLING and ROONEY MARA. Director: TERRENCE MALICK. 16NS. Opens 26 May. Before 1998’s The Thin Red Line, enigmatic director Terrence Malick had only made two films in the ’70s that were hailed as masterpieces. Since then he’s sped up his work rate and attracted a host of A-list actors, whose performances sometimes end up on the cutting-room floor because Malick shoots hours of footage and only starts with a vague idea.
Set in the music scene in Austin, Texas, Song To Song centres on a love triangle between rich music exec Cook (Michael Fassbender) and two struggling musicians, BV (Gosling) and Faye (Mara). The cast also includes Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett.
Malick has increasingly polarised critics and his previous two films, To The Wonder (2012) and Knight Of Cups (2015), were derided for being clichéd and banal. This is also the case with Song To Song, which has received 45 percent, based on 84 reviews, on reviews aggregator site Rottentomatoes.com: “As visually sumptuous as it is narratively Spartan, this film echoes elements of the writerdirector’s recent work – for better and for worse.”
Rolling Stone gives it one out of four stars and describes it as rambling and incoherent. “As usual, the images are gorgeous – but they’re no substitute for narrative momentum, which is nonexistent.” The best thing Time can say about the film is that it’s “slightly less pretentious than Malick’s last film” and “features every stylistic trick in his playbook”.
In contrast The Independent awards it five stars and calls it a “life-changing masterpiece” while The AV Club gives it a B. “Anyone whose patience was tried by halfway through To The Wonder will probably not rush back. Yet there are moments with emotional resonance.” – COMPILED BY SANDRA VISSER