THE NEW WORLD
THE NEW WORLD
December 27 2009, DVD, home living room, from library
At last I've seen the most recent film directed by Terence Malick, the man responsible for such cinematic orgasms as the dirty BADLANDS and the transcendent DAYS OF HEAVEN. And yeah, I liked THE THIN BLUE LINE, too, but it wasn't quite the same. THE NEW WORLD isn't, either. I wouldn't call it a disappointment, but it doesn't quite have the same personal religiosity as Malick's previous films.
This is not to say that THE NEW WORLD isn't visually gorgeous and moving. Far from it. The wondrous natural landscape of America is on full display, in this case, coastal Virginia, location of the colony that a ship full of generally clueless and clumsy Englishmen have been sent to settle. The King's finest come in the form of generally right-thinking Captain Newport, played by Christopher Plummer; and the much nastier and brutish Wingfield, Selway, and Argall, brought to us by David Thewlis, a nearly unrecognizable Noah Taylor (the years have not been kind to my boy), and the marvelously monikered Yorick von Wageningen. The English guys land after a fairly rough passage, bringing with them, in chains, doe-eyed sucker Colin Farrell, in the role of the capable and thoughtful Captain John Smith.
Yeah, OK, somehow I managed to forget that this is a retelling of the Pocahontas story. I tried not to let it get in my way, and really it didn't, but it was still kind of a feeling of "Oh, yeah, this. Urgh. That's right." Fortunately the role of the generally nameless Mataoka (yeah, Pocahontas wasn't really her name, everybody) was given to the resplendent Q'orianka Kilcher, who by day is a combination environmental activitist and teen singing star. (Who was on Star Search. Sometimes learning things on the internet doesn't actually make things better.) Anyway, she is lovely, and nubile, and completely unaffected, and she really made the movie for me. The girl's got chops. Unfortunately I guess there aren't many roles for gorgeous, talented Mayan hotties who know Algonquin dances. And that's a damn shame. I'd like to see her more.
So yeah, we all know the Pocahontas story: white guys show up, nearly starve, and through the largesse and kindness of one teenage girl, the local native tribes give them enough food to survive. Also, she falls in love with Captain Smith, and vice versa. Now, here, nice folks like Disney like to end the story before we get to the point where the English get greedy, start their massacre of the local tribes (mostly through stirring up tribal rivalries so that they Injuns will do their dirty work for them). Then Captain Smith lies to li'l Mataoka and goes back to England, breaking her heart into a million little pieces; only for her to be assimilated into the colonists' settlement and made a proper lady who wears clothes and shoes. Then one of the second round of settlers, John Rolfe (Christian Bale in his jack-of-hearts ginger goatee and leggings - I'd like more of that, please), falls for her, marries her up, and brings her to England to have an top-hatted audience with the King and Queen. Talk about bittersweet - much more bitter, really. But Mataoka's a gentle, generous soul, and she deals with the strangeness of her new reality with grace and quiet dignity, and a healthy curiosity and intelligence. She's a trouper. And it's a pleasure to see her smile.
Pleasant movie; lovely to look at, slow-paced, plenty of opportunity to look at how awesome nature is and despise the English bastards who made it into a mud pit and descended into cannibalism. Hah! Serves them right. But you can't stop progress.
This film is peppered with prominent actors in very small roles - Jonathan Pryce, Ben Chaplin, John Savage, and in a not-so-small role, August Schellenberg, and literally dozens of other Native actors. They must have loved the fact that Malick was making this film; how much work do they generally get?
Also, with Wes Studi...
December 27 2009, DVD, home living room, from library
At last I've seen the most recent film directed by Terence Malick, the man responsible for such cinematic orgasms as the dirty BADLANDS and the transcendent DAYS OF HEAVEN. And yeah, I liked THE THIN BLUE LINE, too, but it wasn't quite the same. THE NEW WORLD isn't, either. I wouldn't call it a disappointment, but it doesn't quite have the same personal religiosity as Malick's previous films.
This is not to say that THE NEW WORLD isn't visually gorgeous and moving. Far from it. The wondrous natural landscape of America is on full display, in this case, coastal Virginia, location of the colony that a ship full of generally clueless and clumsy Englishmen have been sent to settle. The King's finest come in the form of generally right-thinking Captain Newport, played by Christopher Plummer; and the much nastier and brutish Wingfield, Selway, and Argall, brought to us by David Thewlis, a nearly unrecognizable Noah Taylor (the years have not been kind to my boy), and the marvelously monikered Yorick von Wageningen. The English guys land after a fairly rough passage, bringing with them, in chains, doe-eyed sucker Colin Farrell, in the role of the capable and thoughtful Captain John Smith.
Yeah, OK, somehow I managed to forget that this is a retelling of the Pocahontas story. I tried not to let it get in my way, and really it didn't, but it was still kind of a feeling of "Oh, yeah, this. Urgh. That's right." Fortunately the role of the generally nameless Mataoka (yeah, Pocahontas wasn't really her name, everybody) was given to the resplendent Q'orianka Kilcher, who by day is a combination environmental activitist and teen singing star. (Who was on Star Search. Sometimes learning things on the internet doesn't actually make things better.) Anyway, she is lovely, and nubile, and completely unaffected, and she really made the movie for me. The girl's got chops. Unfortunately I guess there aren't many roles for gorgeous, talented Mayan hotties who know Algonquin dances. And that's a damn shame. I'd like to see her more.
So yeah, we all know the Pocahontas story: white guys show up, nearly starve, and through the largesse and kindness of one teenage girl, the local native tribes give them enough food to survive. Also, she falls in love with Captain Smith, and vice versa. Now, here, nice folks like Disney like to end the story before we get to the point where the English get greedy, start their massacre of the local tribes (mostly through stirring up tribal rivalries so that they Injuns will do their dirty work for them). Then Captain Smith lies to li'l Mataoka and goes back to England, breaking her heart into a million little pieces; only for her to be assimilated into the colonists' settlement and made a proper lady who wears clothes and shoes. Then one of the second round of settlers, John Rolfe (Christian Bale in his jack-of-hearts ginger goatee and leggings - I'd like more of that, please), falls for her, marries her up, and brings her to England to have an top-hatted audience with the King and Queen. Talk about bittersweet - much more bitter, really. But Mataoka's a gentle, generous soul, and she deals with the strangeness of her new reality with grace and quiet dignity, and a healthy curiosity and intelligence. She's a trouper. And it's a pleasure to see her smile.
Pleasant movie; lovely to look at, slow-paced, plenty of opportunity to look at how awesome nature is and despise the English bastards who made it into a mud pit and descended into cannibalism. Hah! Serves them right. But you can't stop progress.
This film is peppered with prominent actors in very small roles - Jonathan Pryce, Ben Chaplin, John Savage, and in a not-so-small role, August Schellenberg, and literally dozens of other Native actors. They must have loved the fact that Malick was making this film; how much work do they generally get?
Also, with Wes Studi...