tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post114529522945280387..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Terrence Malick and The New WorldJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-57505264597699819562008-11-26T11:08:00.000+05:302008-11-26T11:08:00.000+05:30I watched The Thin Red Line quite as accident, the...I watched The Thin Red Line quite as accident, the Lakshya DVD was coded for a different region (Yes, I guess I am DVD-ically challenged), I was supposed to pick “The Color Red” and somehow I picked up the “The Thin Red Line.” Had I had any idea that it was a war movie I would have never picked it up; but it is one of my best accidents. Quite interestingly for such a slow movie, it is very very gripping. I ended up revisiting the movie 7 times. <BR/><BR/>Hence I decided that I will not read about any of the TM’s movies before watching them. I am reading your blog after trying to watch The New World. It might have been that I expected too much, or I shouldn’t have tried watching it on a Friday evening, when I was too exhausted to contemplate on the metaphysical. In any case I could not sit thru the movie.<BR/><BR/>My luck with other TM’s movies has, unfortunately, not been better. I tried watching Days of Heaven, and while it had a Premchand kind of an air to it (I quite enjoy the short stories by Premchand), my DVD failed during a significant death by the river (in case anybody reading this, hasn't watched the movie), and I could not see what happens next. <BR/><BR/>I think I still have Badlands left, and I have kept it for a rainy day, hoping that neither the DVD, nor the day of the week, nor the director will fail me!<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the review. My thoughts exactly. :)nehahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17197452546005616713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-45014812774284018882008-04-04T17:25:00.000+05:302008-04-04T17:25:00.000+05:30Sorry to be replying so late....Anyway... yes. I m...Sorry to be replying so late....<BR/><BR/>Anyway... yes. I must admit I got an impression that u were a little biased about mallick.heartenin to know that u are not. besides I havent watched any of Mallick's films. I would definitely give it a try. The cover of New world definitlely looks a strong image.<BR/>I hope it is not an interplay of lot of colours just for the heck of it. Anyway thats too much of judgement beffore actually watchin it. Get back to u when I get hold of the movies. Sorry to be posting as Anonymous(I does become irritating). I forgot my username and password (vaguely remember them.but they aint right)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-11150575047584440012008-03-19T18:18:00.000+05:302008-03-19T18:18:00.000+05:30Last Anon: all true, but I hope you didn't get the...Last Anon: all true, but I hope you didn't get the impression that I'm praising Mallick by pulling down Spielberg? Rest assured, I can appreciate the achievements of both men (as I can both Kumble and Sachin). That said, for obvious reasons, praise directed at an underdog (who doesn't get talked about much) is more valued than praise directed at someone who has more than enough of it already.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-66592746413981636042008-03-19T18:10:00.000+05:302008-03-19T18:10:00.000+05:30I dont know why, but as I reached the end of ur po...I dont know why, but as I reached the end of ur post I felt that a certain class of human beings have this errie tendency of praising an underdog. While the rest of public in general praises say Sachin we would like to praise say Kumble a little more. while doing so, I think we may be taking risk of undermining Sachin's accomplished.May be unknowingly.. Spielberg has his own dimension of success, his own measuring cylinder. Malick has his own. or should I say we have a reciprocating measuring cylinder to gauge their performance...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1146828313040290782006-05-05T16:55:00.000+05:302006-05-05T16:55:00.000+05:30i find your posts entertaining but your choice of ...i find your posts entertaining but your choice of font and color is apalling. after reading a particular post, tears were rolling down my cheeks - partly due to the humor and partly due to the awful green,white,grey,arial (did you use condense-space effect or something?) eye-burner.<BR/><BR/>trust me, YOU don't need a gaudy color scheme to 'stand-out' your blog.<BR/><BR/>cheers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1146713871568794962006-05-04T09:07:00.000+05:302006-05-04T09:07:00.000+05:30'The thin red line' is beautiful. Re the new one, ...'The thin red line' is beautiful. Re the new one, all I have to say is that Colin Farrell seems to have a special talent for doing damage to directorial reputations. Someone take him far far away.fyn scarlet reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989059731250192270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145857208811596792006-04-24T11:10:00.000+05:302006-04-24T11:10:00.000+05:30Gosh, I remember that scene! It psyched me out.Gosh, I remember that scene! It psyched me out.Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10819608939555247317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145558089096151952006-04-21T00:04:00.000+05:302006-04-21T00:04:00.000+05:30...that he’s detached enough to look at members of...<I>...that he’s detached enough to look at members of his own species no differently from the way he looks at the individual trees in a forest, or the individual leaves on a tree, or the blades of grass in a meadow.</I><BR/>Interesting that you should mention this, because one of my most memorable shots from TTRL is the one in which one of the soldiers loses his head during a particularly intense enemy battery and it is interspersed with a beautiful shot of grass undulating in the wind on a picture perfect hilltop (where the fighting is taking place). A very powerful anti-war statement, but thankfully you don't have the director lecturing you from a pulpit.Tridibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145543699486000452006-04-20T20:04:00.000+05:302006-04-20T20:04:00.000+05:30Ha ha. And so modest too.Ha ha. And so modest too.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145537832904537392006-04-20T18:27:00.000+05:302006-04-20T18:27:00.000+05:30Being reclusive and making films sporadically (rat...<I>Being reclusive and making films sporadically (rather than having a regular output) doesn’t automatically make you a great artist, but it does suggest that there is a strong purity of purpose in your work</I><BR/><BR/>I prefer to believe that it only means you're lazy. Else I'd be one of the greatest writers who ever lived.Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10819608939555247317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145470186321337892006-04-19T23:39:00.000+05:302006-04-19T23:39:00.000+05:30"Forget the New World, the Thin Red Line is more w..."Forget the New World, the Thin Red Line is more worthy of cult status."<BR/><BR/>Anangbhai, it already <I>has</I> a considerable cult status. What cave have you been hiding in? :)Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145338345432177962006-04-18T11:02:00.000+05:302006-04-18T11:02:00.000+05:30Apparently a 3 hour version is due soon on DVD. It...Apparently a 3 hour version is due soon on DVD. It includes 20 min. cut from the original release. Perhaps I made the right decision after all. <BR/>Now if only malick-ji would release the 6 hour version of TRL, complete with Hans Zimmer's uncut 4 hour score, with options for Billy Bob Thornton's 3 hour voiceover and other actors who were cut out of the theatrical release. <BR/>Forget the New World, the Thin Red Line is more worthy of cult status.Ananghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13093712350047601404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145338041747606032006-04-18T10:57:00.000+05:302006-04-18T10:57:00.000+05:30Haven't seen the film but remembering the TRL it c...Haven't seen the film but remembering the TRL it could be said that perhaps he was utilizing the courtly love style where you know you talk about rose petals and lotuses and feathers and such. Even in TRL the scenes with bell and his wife weren't erotic but exuded passion more than sexual lust, even though bell himself said in so many words that his relationship with his wife was nothing but physical, but at least in his thoughts, when he was away from her his thoughts of her weren't erotic and were dreams and hopes of something more than just sex. He was trying to find "those blue shores" and yet in the end his naivete was shattered when he gets the letter after he has conquered all (after the big climactic attack on the final japanese camp). <BR/>We may find that to be chaste nuzzling, and perhaps in the hands of some student filmmaker people would just walk out or find it pretentious. Regardless I can't give a final judgement since I haven't seen the film yet. <BR/>Speaking of chaste nuzzling, has anyone seen the film Divine Intervention where the israeli protagonist and his palestinian girlfriend meet at a border crossing and all they do is rub hands.Ananghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13093712350047601404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145327755290653242006-04-18T08:05:00.000+05:302006-04-18T08:05:00.000+05:30If indeed Malick was interested in "visual poetry"...<I>If indeed Malick was interested in "visual poetry", transcendalist views about man and nature etc etc then why choose this subject?</I><BR/><BR/>Alok, what subject would you have him choose? The key lies in the treatment, not in the choice of subject. And when you say "I found it very apolitical and ahistorical", that's exactly the point I'm trying to make too - he isn't putting the settlers vs Indians story in a historical context. If you come to this film with textbook expectations, you're bound to be puzzled by it.<BR/><BR/>Am with you on the chaste nuzzling - thought that was pretentious. maybe he was trying too hard to make the point that their relationship isn't a mainly physical one but Something More Profound and Symbolic.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145326949298473082006-04-18T07:52:00.000+05:302006-04-18T07:52:00.000+05:30He is of course concerned in an immediate sense wi...<I>He is of course concerned in an immediate sense with his protagonists, their thoughts and feelings; but for him the larger picture is much larger than the history of the US or even perhaps the history of humankind.</I><BR/><BR/>it is interesting that you say this because when i had seen the film, i had found it very apolitical and ahistorical which I found troubling given the subject of the film. my problem was, if indeed Malick was interested in "visual poetry", transcendalist views about man and nature etc etc then why choose this subject?<BR/><BR/>my other problem, though relatively minor, was what one reviewer called the "daily regimen of chaste nuzzling" between the hero and the heroine. I mean, i understand she is a jailbait and you can't show sex but all those monologues and touching and nuzzling just got on my nerves after a while....for godsake they are not puppies!!!! <BR/><BR/>but having said all this, i think this is one of those cases where style triumphs completely over substance and content.<BR/><BR/>if ou haven't read this...<BR/><BR/>about the new world cult<BR/>http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0610,hoberman,72427,20.html<BR/>also check out this and the sidebar of the blog<BR/>http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2006/03/another-look.htmlAlokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1145322569948074502006-04-18T06:39:00.000+05:302006-04-18T06:39:00.000+05:30Thin Red Line is the best film I have ever seen. I...Thin Red Line is the best film I have ever seen. If I could say anything about Malick I would say his style is emersonian at the base but doesn't condescend to hippie BS. I haven't seen the new world yet but I heard the score and it wasn't as amazing as zimmer's work on TRL so I knew something was up. <BR/>I missed both this film and Kong in theaters and now it seems as if I didn't miss much.Ananghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13093712350047601404noreply@blogger.com