To The Wonder Review
By Lexi Feinberg
Tree of Strife
Love him or hate him, Terrence Malick has a distinct style that nobody else could pull off. Hey, sometimes even he can't. "To The Wonder" is his latest piece of cinematic poetry and while it feels a bit vapid compared with "
The Tree of Life" (dinosaurs and all), Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography remains stunning and these movies have a hypnotizing way about them. Especially when seen in theaters - they're just not the same at home on the couch.
While "Tree of Life" tackles the meaning of life, "To The Wonder" focuses on the nature of love. Not the butterflies, endorphin-pumped, joyful kind, but the anguished, not-quite-requited kind. This is Malick after all, so nobody sane would expect a romantic comedy, but it's quite gloomy. Marina (Olga Kurylenko) loves Neil (Ben Affleck) so much that she moves from Paris to Oklahoma (!) to start a life together, joined by her daughter. Why are they there though? Neil hasn't proposed, he is cold and distant, and she tries to get his attention by frolicking through the grass and being playful with him. No dice, as Neil has the personality of a dead fish and is wholly unresponsive.
Affleck really turns down the charm here, making his character in "
Argo" seem like he's bouncing with charisma. He is the strong, silent type, barely speaking, rather aloof, brooding at length. There is nothing to him but Marina can't get enough and neither can his old flame Jane (Rachel McAdams), who gets pulled into his orbit. She's barely in the movie but is there long enough to recognize Neil's allergy to emotions.
There's also a priest (Javier Bardem) who has lost his faith and is questioning his purpose in life. He feels nothing, but he wants to. The parallels between the deep/fleeting nature of love and faith are made clear in the movie along with how different temperaments approach such things. Marina feels so much that she's basically an open wound bleeding out; Neil doesn't give a toss about anything; the priest cares but struggles to get back on track.
"To The Wonder" is a really beautiful movie, even if it lacks heft. The narration, as always, is overdone and unnecessary. "What is this love that loves us?" does not need to be asked via voiceover, along with other inanities. But Oklahoma, where Neil measures pollution for work, has never looked lovelier, and Malick is great at capturing the glory of simple things (a field, a farm, a small-town parade). He even uses a grainier lens to shoot Paris in contrast.
The acting is equally subtle, mostly using reaction shots and body language to tell a story. Taken as an experience, it's entrancing, though not profound. Malick's strength is in how he shows the world, not what he has to say about it.
