Sunday, January 21, 2007

The New World (2005)



Directed by Terrence Malick. Starring Q'Orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer.

Snob that I am, I once declared that none of the greatest American films were made during my lifetime. The reasoning behind this was because the true masterpieces were the films that stood the test of time, that had survived years of scrutiny to emerge as classics of the medium. But the first time I saw Malick's fourth film, I was seized by a feeling that I'd almost never experienced before, something I'd read about older critics experiencing in the past. In short, I was witnessing a new film that from the very first frame felt destined to be a classic. What made me feel this way? Could it have been the visual poetry summoned up by Malick and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki? Could it have been the incandescent performances (or should I say embodiments) by newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher and Colin Farrell, finally making good on the hype? Or was it the way Malick made that rarest of concoctions, a film that transports the audience into a completely new world? Years from now, I expect to fondly reflect on a Friday afternoon in January 2006 and tell some younger film lovers, "yeah, I saw THE NEW WORLD when it came out."

See also: Review at Epinions.com

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