Days of Heaven (1979)

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Terrence Malick directs Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Linda Manz in this almost fabulist story of a farmer who falls for a poverty stricken worker, despite suspecting her “brother” is really her lover. 

Set exactly a century ago, Malick cautiously explores his house style of making his humans’ interactions seem insignificant to the beauty of landscape and the obliviousness of nature. Here a simple pastoral love triangle is leant painterly beauty and a languid, almost discordant, adolescent narration. It has the feel of both a painstaking labour of love and yet also an effective improvised energy. You’ll struggle to find a more gorgeous film, certainly not one about grafters and grifters rather than upper middle class consumers. Just magical, possibly the often Marmite auteur’s best.

10

2 comments

  1. Paul S.'s avatar
    Paul S · March 21, 2017

    A fine review of a fine film, I really miss the old Malick!

    Like

  2. Pingback: Movie of the Week: Tess (1979) | Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

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