The New World

Watched Terrence Malick’s The New World last night and was never bored.

Don’t be fooled, though. Very little happens in the story, the acting is largely wooden, the script incredibly bare, and Colin Farrell’s eyebrows seem to get closer and closer together throughout the film.

However, every shot it is virtually a masterpiece of composition and movement, so if you like looking at films just for the pleasure of seeing nifty shapes, colors, and vaguely choreographed motion, this is a movie for you.

Otherwise, if you’d like to try the “I’m going to make this movie hilarious, just try to stop me” route, just get your copy of Chicago’s Greatest Hits out of the closet and pull a Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon-esque tandem. I assure you that one song in particular seems to fit at any given moment throughout the film:
This is not, in any way, a joke. Every time John Smith stares lovingly (blankly?) into his unnamed (we all know it’s Pocahontas, of despised dollar coin fame) gal-pal’s eyes, you can nearly hear that song in the background.So I’m on pins and needles until 2036, when the next Malick film is likely to hit theaters. Until then, I’ll always have images of leaves, birds, trees, grass, and Colin Farrell’s pensive unibrow to tide me over.