826 The New World

[flyonthewall2983]

On the other hand, Horner's score (which is available in it's entirety on the soundtrack) is incredible. I'm up and down on all of Malick's films to a degree but the original scores to each one have been nothing short of fabulous. Even (as in this case obviously) if they aren't used that much. I haven't seen the other cut that's out there, but is there more of the original score there or is the music much the same?

[aox]

Fantastic read. Thanks for posting. It's weird to think of TM has emotionless. Not sure I completely buy it.

[Oedipax]

Not to speak ill of the dead or anything, but The New World has some of the best use of pre-existing music in all of cinema; it's obvious Horner worked in a very different tradition (no less valid) than Malick's but unfortunately did not seem able to grasp that difference except in terms of Malick's supposed incompetence at doing something he never set out to do in the first place.

[flyonthewall2983]

But it's not like he's the first to have claimed these kinds of grievances on working with him either (nor is it the first time a credited composer's work has been mostly unused, some of Michael Mann's most recent work has had this problem). I wouldn't say it's intentionally manipulative on his part, but I can't help but think that it disregards the hard work others put in to help fulfill the vision.

[tenia]

Basically, Desplat relived this type of work with Malick on The Tree of Life since most of this work has been discarded and replaced by existing music.

[Kirkinson]

But it's worth noting that Desplat didn't seem to mind the process very much, and came away with a very different opinion of Malick:

Terrence Malick, he contacted me in 2007. And we met at Abbey Road in London. Then he told me about this project, saying that he really wanted, for the first time, to try having the music before starting editing the film. So I told him I would take him up on the challenge… live up to it but that it was something I was not used to do, because I like to see the films to feel the vibrations the energy, and that’s where my inspiration comes. But I told him we could try, so we tried. I wrote the music over the two years he was editing and filming. I recorded several times, 3 or 4 times, sometimes in London, then in Paris, then in Los Angeles, and I gave him, uh, pieces of music he has added at his discretion in the film. I knew from the beginning that there would be a lot of existing music in there, like he usually does in his films; there’s Berlioz, Ligeti’s there, and many more. I haven’t seen the finished film yet, unfortunately. [He talked to me, he guided me (implicit words, maybe edited by the journalist)] in terms of sensation, with classical references, of course, but too by evoking the film, by showing me sometimes clips of the film, by evoking the emotions that are the most, uh.. that are the most intimate in the film and to which he wanted me to refer. He talked about… uh.. He wanted the music to be a river flowing through the film, like that [gesture], coming down from upstream to downstream. Light, silence, innocence of childhood, things like that. Things that come up in all of his films.

Terrence is a scholar, a Francophile. He speaks French as well as you and me. He is nourished [his soul is nourrished] by German philosophy, French philosophy, English literature, et cetera. He knows astronomy and ornithology, and he knows music very well.. even if he tries to hide it. But for example, he can sing the third movement of a sonata of Beethoven.. So he is, he is unbelievable, he’s an absolute genius … For me he’s like the medieval monks who were the bearers of knowledge. He is… he is an extraordinary being, holed up in his house in Austin, where I got to work with him several times. You know, he’s a real character.

I wonder if The New World had a lot more behind-the-scenes fighting than Malick's other recent work. Horner suggests as much, and Wes Studi and Christopher Plummer certainly had a lot of anger and resentment for it afterwards, but I don't recall hearing much griping from his collaborators since then, unless I've just missed it. At worst you get the slightly annoyed bemusement of Sean Penn or Ben Affleck mixed in with lots of fawning praise—perhaps he's just gotten better about choosing people who are willing to follow him wherever he wants to go? Or do we just need a few more years' distance for angrier parties to let their guard down?

[hearthesilence]

Fantastic read. Thanks for posting. It's weird to think of TM has emotionless. Not sure I completely buy it.

I agree, calling him emotionless is bullshit. For better and for worse, his films have been increasingly revolved around emotion and the sensations that come with them, and in many ways, are far more convincing as romances than movies that phone-in conventional soap-opera tropes like Titanic or Braveheart.

[Oedipax]

But it's not like he's the first to have claimed these kinds of grievances on working with him either (nor is it the first time a credited composer's work has been mostly unused, some of Michael Mann's most recent work has had this problem). I wouldn't say it's intentionally manipulative on his part, but I can't help but think that it disregards the hard work others put in to help fulfill the vision.

Kubrick also famously discarded all of Alex North's score for 2001 and went with his temp track picks instead; I don't recall North's thoughts on the matter, but I don't particularly care, either... Egos might be bruised, sure, but the film is all that's going to be remembered in 50 or 100 years.

Any of Malick's collaborators at this point must know to expect the bulk of their work will never see the light of day, but they're being invited to take part in the process which is an experimental one, and ought to regard it as such. To me what Horner's words (and those of some of the other more outspoken detractors like Plummer) indicate is much more to do with their own fixed notions and industry 'professionalism,' to which again I just think... who cares?

[tenia]

Egos might be bruised, sure

I don't think it's only a matter of ego, but also of time / resources / money spent for a given time to do something which won't be used. It can be perceived as a waste, and I can certainly understand that.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Any of Malick's collaborators at this point must know to expect the bulk of their work will never see the light of day, but they're being invited to take part in the process which is an experimental one, and ought to regard it as such.

At this date I understand that. By the time Malick made The Tree of Life, Sean Penn shouldn't have felt so burned that the movie took on a new life from the original script. Especially as a former collaborator, he should know how this worked. A lot of people who were cut from To the Wonder seemed to accept that, as do those appearing in his forthcoming projects. But I feel sympathy for those people like Adrien Brody. As a young actor working on the cheap for such a long period of time, it'd be devastating to have your lead role hacked to a few lines. While Malick had an idiosyncratic style on his first two films, I think he took them to new realms of experimentation once he resurfaced decades later and his collaborators may not have been prepared for this. When Brody, Horner, or Christopher Plummer voice their dissatisfaction, I think that's fair. If Ryan Gosling or Val Kilmer feel burned once Weightless comes out, I'll have less sympathy.

[flyonthewall2983]

I don't think it's only a matter of ego, but also of time / resources / money spent for a given time to do something which won't be used. It can be perceived as a waste, and I can certainly understand that.

It doesn't help that the studio which released it, not that long after, would be reigned in by it's parent company to such a degree that the New Line of today is a shell of it's former self. I don't know how much they lost on it, or how deep on the ground floor they were with Malick on it, but it doesn't look good considering how much was wasted on this in terms of time and resources.

[Kirkinson]

Kubrick also famously discarded all of Alex North's score for 2001 and went with his temp track picks instead; I don't recall North's thoughts on the matter, but I don't particularly care, either...

He wasn't happy about it, particularly as he didn't find out his music had been dropped until he was watching the film with the audience at its premiere!

To me what Horner's words (and those of some of the other more outspoken detractors like Plummer) indicate is much more to do with their own fixed notions and industry 'professionalism,'

Yes, and now that you put it this way it reminds me that in Nestor Almendros's autobiography he recounts a great deal of resistance he and Malick encountered, both from the studio and from their own colleagues and crew, as a result of the way they shot Days of Heaven, particularly regarding their nearly exclusive use of natural and available light. Many people labeled them as incompetent or crazy during that shoot. Eventually, of course, the results spoke for themselves.

[hearthesilence]

This happens with every Malick film. Badlands fired its first cinematographer for similar reasons and the asshat camera assist (who like the others, argued they knew more because of their experience working on numerous mediocre productions) made sure every take had the slate upside down as a sign of protest.

Haskell Wexler deserves credit - even though he didn't believe in the available light philosophy Almendros had, he was at least skilled and smart enough to know how to match that look on Days of Heaven.

[George Drooly]

When so-called "professionals" and Academy Members (tut-tut) can't even well enough understand the technical, formal or just generally artistic merit of this film's editing or sound work to nominate it, then we can pretty easily dismiss their opinions as valid. This film has maybe the best editing since Resnais' 1960s films and the best sound design since... well, name a film with better sound?

When Horner (and the majority of critics and audiences) suggests that this story "could have been one of the great love stories and was one of the great love stories in history, and [Malick] turned it into crap" I can only wonder and fume at the century-long simplistic Hollywood interpretation of "love" as being one of two things: Romantic or familial. Malick's films, especially since his sabbatical, suggest an entire panoply of meaning, including religious love, love of country, love of nature, on and on.

I would suggest the relationships between Pocahontas and Johns Smith & Rolfe are less about tedious historical accuracy or revisionist correction, but are instead personifications of the American Dream, the romantic ideal of the country - the land, the new world of Pocahontas herself - and two possible historical approaches to that sort of stewardship or promise. I suppose that's a somewhat paternalistic view (woman as nature) but certainly one with countless precedents (Bradbury's "Here There Be Tygers," etc.)

[Dylan]

On the topic of Malick and film composers... According to the liner notes of the 2 CD Film Score Monthly release of the Days of Heaven soundtrack, when Ennio Morricone was scoring Days of Heaven he knew going in that Malick might replace some/most/all of his score, so Morricone made a deal with Malick. The deal was that Malick can do whatever he wanted with the music (drop cues entirely, replace cues with classical music, move cues around, etc.) as long as Morricone's scoring of the locust scene remain entirely intact. And sure enough, that is the only cue in Morricone's entire score that Malick left alone - every other cue was moved around or shortened or replaced with classical music and more than a third of Morricone's cues were dropped entirely. But that locust scene is untouched.

Here's the listing on Film Score Monthly's website for Morricone's score, where you can also listen to clips from music that was entirely dropped and before this CD release not heard since the recording sessions (including Morricone's Main Title that was replaced with "Aquarium"). While I've always liked the Days of Heaven score as heard in the film, I never counted it among Morricone's best works (and I've heard some 200 of his 500+ works), but this CD release is a revelation. In its complete form it is indeed one of Morricone's best.

[movielocke]

The new world confirmed, directors preferred cut on the way

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts ... -new-world" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Trees]

So it's basically the Blu-ray version? There are certain montages in the theatrical cut that I really love. Is the theatrical cut available anywhere on Blu-ray?

[willoneill]

So it's basically the Blu-ray version? There are certain montages in the theatrical cut that I really love. Is the theatrical cut available anywhere on Blu-ray?

A bit of a jump to conclusions. It just says they're restoring the director's cut. It doesn't say whether or not other cuts may be included, or what other special features might be on the disc.

[Werewolf by Night]

So it's basically the Blu-ray version? There are certain montages in the theatrical cut that I really love. Is the theatrical cut available anywhere on Blu-ray?

A bit of a jump to conclusions. It just says they're restoring the director's cut. It doesn't say whether or not other cuts may be included, or what other special features might be on the disc.

I can't imagine upgrading from the current Blu-ray unless it includes the theatrical version. I really don't need to shell out $20+ just for another interview with Jack Fisk.

[Newsnayr]

I'm fairly sure that Criterion will be releasing all 3 cuts.

[Werewolf by Night]

But what evidence do you have for that, if I may ask?

[whaleallright]

The word "restoration" comes really cheap these days. What Criterion seem to be describing in their recent web feature is simply color grading, which is a routine part of the post-production process.

Malick has seemed so indecisive about how to put this film together, that I wonder that Criterion won't just provide the full, raw rushes and invite fans to put together their own cuts (much like Radiohead had done with the stems of tracks from In Rainbows).

[jedgeco]

The word "restoration" comes really cheap these days. What Criterion seem to be describing in their recent web feature is simply color grading, which is a routine part of the post-production process.

Agree - If an 11 year old film coming out of Hollywood needs to be "restored," there's some serious problems. But is there any reason why the original elements would look so washed out?

[Newsnayr]

I met a representative of Criterion at the Midnight Sun Film Festival held last week in Sodankylä, Finland. I asked him about upcoming releases and he mentioned that the following will be released by the company in the future:

-Chimes at Midnight
-The Decalogue: Criterion has the rights and was originally going to release this back in December, but the release has been held back so they can secure either better-quality source materials or more extra material (he didn't specify)
-The Graduate
-In Cold Blood
-The New World (he had suggested that Criterion release all three existing cuts of the film, but nothing was decided at this point)
-Two unfinished films by Orson Welles: It's All True and another film whose name he didn't remember, but which he knew starred Jeanne Moreau and had a running time of approximately one hour, so in all likelihood it's The Immortal Story, though of course that's not unfinished. These will be put out as a single release.

Considering said source was correct about The Graduate and In Cold Blood, and that Criterion is most likely seeking to do the film and Malick justice, I doubt that they won't release every cut.

[Werewolf by Night]

But if they want to do Malick "justice," wouldn't they just release the one cut he prefers? Sorry, I'm not trying to needle you, I'm just preparing for a disappointing announcement because I just don't see Criterion releasing three (or even two) cuts of a two-plus-hour film. I'd be thrilled to have my low expectations shattered.