The New World extended cut. Out tomorrow. (*********9/10)
Terrence Malick is the kind of guy who is usually a character in movies, rather than a maker of movies. He lives in obscurity, surfacing once every decade or so to make a sensational movie, then he disappears again. In the 70s, he made the classic Badlands with Martin Sheen. He popped up in the 80s to make Days of Heaven with Richard Gere, and again in the 90s to direct The Thin Red Line with Sean Penn. All brilliant movies, all shrouded in a bit of mystery.
Then in 2005, Malick popped up again, this time directing the powerful and beautiful film The New World, with Colin Farrell. It’s ostensibly about Pocohontas, but in a Terrence Malick movie, the acting is secondary, and the script is tertiary. The New World, again, features very little dialogue. What sets his four films apart from the rest of the world is his camera. There has not been a movie that looks this good since, well, The Thin Red Line.
No one makes scenery a character in a film the way Terrence Malick does, and The New World is fantastic because of it. The extended edition comes out October 14th from Alliance Films, and it doesn’t add much to this brilliant movie. But if you missed The New World the first time around, it’s time to check it out. This film is a classic.