TO THE WONDER
Starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko
Directed by Terrence Malick
Given that Terrence Malick once went two decades between films, it's almost unthinkable that the sixth feature of his 40-year directorial career should arrive right on the heels of his fifth (2011's The Tree of Life).
And the sense of shock fails to abate once To the Wonder commences. The immaculate, magisterial cinematography long associated with Malick's work is initially nowhere to be seen. In its stead is the grainy digital videocamera footage being captured by Neil (Ben Affleck) and Marina (Olga Kurylenko), new lovers vacationing in France. Malick's first film featuring an entirely contemporary setting, To the Wonder is also the first evidence that the notoriously reclusive filmmaker actually inhabits the same world we do. As it progress, it also suggests that he shares something else with us: fallibility.
As Neil and Marina relocate to rural Oklahoma and drift apart, Malick's techniques become more characteristic: poetic voiceover stands in for traditional dialogue and Emmanuel Lubezki's camera is given free reign to dance around the characters. However, this film lacks a sturdy narrative or thematic fulcrum around which such pageantry might revolve. Whereas The Tree of Life saw Malick eloquently processing a childhood spent with domineering, religious father, the seemingly equally personal and even more abstract To the Wonder finds him grasping at a grand statement concerning the nature of love and relationships that frustratingly remains just beyond his reach.
As a filmmaker, Malick has long been regarded to be operating on an entirely different level. On this regrettable occasion, it happens to be one that'll leave many dismissive viewers looking down on him.
