Terrence Malick

[hearthesilence]

It was literally the last movie I went to see before everything shut down because of Covid. By that point, things were bad enough that I felt a little gross going out at all, and even though I was the only person in the theater for that film, I decided about 5 minutes in that I wasn’t into it and that it had about zero chance of holding my attention. So I just left, in what was my last leisure outing for months. I think 2 days later, Chicago issued their shelter-in-place order or whatever it was called.

I had to look up some details to get the timeline right, but the last movie time I went to a theater before lockdown was on February 29 (Saturday) at 7:00 p.m. at MoMA to see Le petit théâtre de Jean Renoir, which I was very glad to see - beautiful 35mm print and it was indeed one of the great final films. I was already nervous about going to a theater because thanks to my partner I finally accepted the sobering truth that the pandemic was definitely coming to the U.S. I vaguely recall most of the public being in denial about that, but pretty much every respectable epidemiologist was already sounding the alarm. There was even a roundtable discussion with a group of epidemiologists published in a medical journal before March where they basically said that it was inevitable and a natural progression of any new disease - it was only a matter of time. Luckily a Saturday night repertory screening wasn't the type to sell out (at least in early 2020), and there was enough empty seats that everyone was sitting at a distance from each other, so I was able to relax before the movie started. The very next day, the first case of COVID in NYC was confirmed so I held off on going to any more screenings.

Back to Malick, I kind of feel like The Tree of Life was the apotheosis of his work - it certainly felt that way when it came out. The next few films pushed further into the same direction and became more radical in form, but I also felt like he had nothing compelling or interesting left to say.

[Noiretirc]

It's been posted in the Hamnet thread, but I want to throw it here too:

"Dear Nic, I watched Hamnet last night. My heart was in my throat the whole time. I felt shaken to the core. It was searing, wondrous. What a magnificent piece of work. Please tell Chloé and the whole filmmaking team what you all know so well: what a wonderful film you all have made, full of love, tenderness, humanity and compassion. Love, Terry."

Well, I'm certainly more inclined towards Hamnet now. (And...erm...The Way Of The Wind.)