A Portrait Of a Malick

It would not be an exaggeration to say that I divide my movie watching experience into before Terrence Malick and after Terrence Malick. After discovering his cinema, what I see, my perspective and perception of life has changed in many ways. I think the biggest factor that influenced me was his unique shooting techniques and poetic point of view. 

Is There Really a Need for Dialog?

We all know very well the importance of dialogues in a movie. What stays in our minds the most after watching a movie are the lines and texts used in that movie. If I talk to you about Scarface, the first thing that will come to your mind is the text "The World Is Yours..." written on a balloon. If I say The Dark Knight, the Joker's line "Why So Serious?" will ring in your ears.

Other than that, things change a bit when we look at Malick's movies. The texts used in the films are extremely poetic and limited. This, in my opinion, gives the audience the opportunity to not only watch the movie but also experience it. The minimalist use of lines makes the importance of the acting in these films even more evident. The moments of silence are noticeably more than the moments of speech in Malick films.

Improvised Acting

Another point that makes the situation I just mentioned more valuable is that the director leaves a wide range of roles for the actors in his films. When you look at the cast without watching one of his movies, it is possible to see a sky full of stars. Malick, who works with the most important actors of Hollywood, cares much more about these actors reaching the highest level of acting in his films than a text and role mold he wrote himself. Accordingly, he gives these actors the opportunity to improvise without limits, so that we become unpredictable about what will happen two seconds later. 

Nature-City Conflict and Impressionist Cinema

The dialogues are few, the acting is improvised, but how do we get involved in the atmosphere of the film? The answer to this question is very obvious in every Malick film; Visuals. 

Terrence Malick is a director who, first and foremost, cares that the audience's eyes are satisfied after watching a movie. In this regard, he is able to use a lot of instruments to grab you. From a minimal and micro-level cellular landscape to a very complex and wide-angle landscape. 

These landscapes are usually set in two different atmospheres. Nature and the City. These two are always at odds with each other in most Malick films. While nature usually gives us feelings such as relaxation, love, and satisfaction, the city, on the contrary, draws us to concepts such as insatiable pleasure, dissatisfaction, detachment from the self, and displacement. The impressionistic balance between the two is so strong that we feel as if we are living the lives of the main characters and all their struggles.

Days Of Heaven - Broken Hopes

Set in the early 20th century, it tells the story of two impoverished seasonal farmworker lovers, Bill and Abby. After Bill kills his boss at work, he flees to Texas, taking his girlfriend Abby with him. Here the young man starts working for a wealthy farmer whose boss is stricken with an undiagnosed disease. Bill devises a cunning plan to inherit the soon-to-be-dead man's fortune and finds himself and his girlfriend in an impossible situation.

This film won the award for best cinematography and is an epic reflection of American history. Starring Richard Gere, Broke Adams and Sam Shephard, the movie is a very successful work in terms of visuals and showing what can happen when things don't go according to plan. 

The Tree of Life-Unbreakable Walls

Centered on a Midwestern family in the 1950s, the film follows Jack, the eldest son of the family, from the loss of childhood innocence to a bitter transition to adulthood. During this transition, his turbulent father-son relationship with his father (Brad Pitt) is at the center of the story. Jack's maturity (Sean Penn) is now an individual who has lost his way in the modern age. While questioning the existence of fate and its predicaments, he tries to find the meaning of life...

Terrence Malick's latest film The Tree of Life, which divided critics at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, is the director's signature work from top to bottom. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, the film's technical team is particularly outstanding.

4-time Oscar nominated cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Oscar nominee Jacqueline West for her costume work in another Brad Pitt film, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, and Oscar nominee Alexandre Desplat for his soundtrack work in 3 different films (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Queen and The King's Speech) are the names that stand out in the production team...

To The Wonder-Decisions and Consquences About Love

In Paris, where Neil, an American, is traveling, he meets Marina, a beautiful woman full of joie de vivre. The two fall in love and decide they don't want to part. When the time comes for Neil to return to America, Marina decides to leave behind the life she has been building with her fingernails for years and settle in America. Marina has followed her love, but after a while they realize that they have come a long way from their passionate days in Paris.

It is during these days that Neil meets Jane, his childhood sweetheart. After weighing his feelings between the two women for a few days, Neil chooses Jane and leaves Marina alone with him in this foreign country. Reconsidering the feelings of love, commitment, betrayal and sacrifice in her life and becoming increasingly lonely, Marina begins to question her faith and seeks support from Father Quintana.

Through long conversations, Marina and Quintana question the lifespan of love and whether there can be other loves...

Starring Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko.

Knight of Cups - who has everything has nothing

The dramatic film 'Knight of Cups' focuses on the search for true love. The protagonist Rick, played by British actor Christian Bale, is in search of the perfect true love and the magical feelings that only this love can evoke. This quest comes to life in a passionate love triangle.

It deals intensely with themes we are familiar with from Terrence Malick's other films, such as being human, death and love. Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Antonio Banderas and Cate Blanchett are among the famous actors in the cast.

Song to Song

Written and directed by Terrence Malick, the American filmmaker behind such unforgettable films as Badlands and The Thin Red Line, the film tells the story of an experimental love story that unfolds inside a music festival in Austin, Texas. With more than 100 bands from around the world participating in the festival, there is unprecedented enthusiasm in the city. 

Focusing on two love triangles that occur during this time, the film explores the characters' stories of obsession and betrayal. The star-studded cast includes Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benicio Del Toro, Boyd Holbrook, Val Kilmer, Bérénice Marlohe and Holly Hunter.

A Hidden Life - A romance about truth and loyalty

A Hidden Life is the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector who suffered a tragic fate. Following the events of World War II, Austrian Franz Jägerstätter refused to fight for the Nazis and was executed in 1943. Directed and written by Terrence Malick, the film stars August Diehl as Franz Jägerstätter.

Voyage Of Time

"Voyage of Time" is a documentary depicting the nature and living creatures that have always played a leading role from the beginning to the end of the universe. Brad Pitt is one of the producers of the movie, which includes images of magnificent landscapes and living creatures. The narrators of the movie are famous actors Brad Pitt and Emma Thompson.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)