6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.7 |
After a whirlwind romance in France, Neil and single mother Marina move to Oklahoma to start a new life together. But as Marina struggles to adjust to life in the United States and cracks begin to appear in their relationship, Neil seeks solace by getting in touch with Jane, a former flame from his childhood. Meanwhile, Marina befriends Father Quintana, a priest struggling to come to terms with his calling.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, Tatiana ChilineDrama | 100% |
Romance | 22% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Easily the most divisive work in the recent career renaissance of philoso-filmmaker Terrence Malick, To the Wonder was jeered and
applauded at its Venice Film Festival premiere, praised by the late Roger Ebert—in his last-ever review for the Chicago Sun-Times—and has since been
shredded and defended in just about every online film forum. There are generally two camps: 1.) Those who dismiss the movie outright as a story-less,
pretention-laden waste of time, and 2.) those who appreciate the ways in which Malick plays at the far boundaries of conventional cinema, even when
he's not entirely successful. I fall unreservedly into the latter group; I'm almost always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to filmmakers—especially
U.S. filmmakers—who work outside the norms, particularly because there are so few American directors still following the auteurist dream of New
Hollywood that died out with the advent of the summer blockbuster.
At the same time, I don't want to dismiss those who don't—or won't—enjoy the film, because the fact is, it's just not for everyone. I certainly don't
want to come off as saying "If you didn't like To the Wonder, it's because you didn't get it." Because, really, there's not much to get.
Yes, Malick has a reputation as a philosophical filmmaker—he translated Heidegger and briefly taught at MIT—but his films, especially this one, are far
more experiential and intuitive than rigidly intellectual. They're built around a sense of what Heidegger called being-in-the-world, a grounding state of
mindfulness towards sheer everyday existence, recognizing that humans are in and of the world, and not separated from it inside a "cabinet of
consciousness." The lofty themes of Darkness and Light, Strife and Love, Nature and Grace are there if you wish to parse them out, but they are
secondary to bare feeling and Malick's Romantic suggestion of all things shining—the wonder of life, of being here at all, of everything that
is. You don't so much watch a Terrence Malick film as much as you let it wash over you in waves.
Whatever your thoughts on the film's other merits, you can't deny To the Wonder's dazzling beauty, shot with the same floaty, ethereal camerawork that graced The Tree of Life. This is cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's third film with Malick—his first was The New World—and they've definitely established an aesthetic together, defined by natural lighting, deep depth of field, and swooping Steadicam movements that suggest some ghostly third party observing the ongoing events. Somehow, the image has both a documentary realism and a near-spiritual quality. No surprise, the film looks fantastic on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's true to source, free from distractions, and lovely to watch. Clarity is excellent throughout, and color is accurately expressed, from the warm glow of Malick's characteristically backlit golden hour shots, to the morose grays of a snow on the Oklahoma plains. Filmed primarily on 35mm, the picture is fine-grained and untouched by digital noise reduction or any other kinds of unnecessary filtering. A few other formats were selectively used too. The scenes with Rachel McAdams' character were actually shot on 65mm—in a great interview with American Cinematographer, Lubezki claims this was to express "stability and a kind of hyper-reality"—and there are two digitally-shot scenes, one utilizing sleek nighttime Paris footage from the Red camera, and a flashback made with a toy Japanese camera that creates a degraded-but-nostalgic look.
If you have the Blu-ray editions of The Tree of Life, The New World, or The Thin Red Line, you'll be familiar with the intertitle that Malick splashes on the screen before his (recent) films begin, recommending that viewers turn the volume up loud for the best experience. The suggestion is well worth taking. Sound design is clearly important to Malick, and To the Wonder's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track does indeed sound terrific with your receiver set a few notches higher than usual. I was a bit put-off at first that Magnolia's Blu-ray doesn't include the 7.1 mix that was featured in the U.K. release, but there's nothing lacking in this 5.1 track. From start to finish, it's expansive and dynamic, clear and enveloping. The rat-a-tat clatter of a train on its tracks. The deep tolling of bells. The rumble of worksite bulldozers. The quiet hush of a room with the windows open. The effects and ambience are involving and oh-so-carefully mixed. Behind this is the film's ever evolving, mood-setting soundtrack, which features an impressionistic score from 26-year-old composer Hanan Townshend, as well as classical pieces from Tchaikovsky and Haydn, Górecki and Wagner. The music is a wonder itself—lively, room-filling, and rich. Drifting in and out of all this are the film's small snatches of dialogue and voice-over narration, which are clear and understandable when they're supposed to be. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Many quickly pegged To the Wonder as a "lesser" Terrence Malick film, but there's nearly as much here bubbling beneath the surface as there was in The Tree of Life. The nature of love, the love of nature, the silence of God and the beauty of compassion—To the Wonder is alive with meaning and feeling. Some may not be able to get past Malick's narrative ambiguities—or, conversely, his penchant for occasionally being too obvious about what he's trying to say, thematically—but those who appreciate the director's decidedly un-Hollywood approach will find his latest film rewarding. Not to mention gorgeous. Aside from the awful cover art—which is apparently trying to sell the movie to fans of more conventional romances —Magnolia's Blu-ray release is appropriately wonderful, with a striking transfer, incredibly detailed sound design, and a few worthwhile extras that reveal a little of the method behind Malick's madness. Recommended!
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