The newest film by director Terrance Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life) is an ambitious, beautiful and moving piece of cinema, starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. To The Wonder is mostly set in a small town in Oaklahoma and tells the love story of Neil (Ben Affleck) and Marina (Olga Kurylenko) which spans over the course of many years as they go through they're trials and emotional hardships. I will start off by saying that this is one of my favorite films of 2013 so far.
Though it has received mainly mixed reviews i managed to thoroughly enjoy it. One of the films major strong points is the cinematography. Terrance Malick has proved countless times that he is a master at capturing beautiful images with such films as "Badlands" and the more well known "The Tree of Life". The style and cinematography is very reminiscent of "The Tree of Life" in the sense that it alters between the regular story and a series of images from nature. Which in a sense can damage the story and be rather off-putting. Although i, personally felt it added to the overall feeling and increased the atmosphere of the film. The film deals with such subjects as the yearning for fulfillment in life and how people search aimlessly for happiness when they don't fully understand what they're looking for. If i had to summarize my interpretation of the film i would have to say that To The Wonder is an analysis of the human condition because it shows how people contemplate they're own faith, make mistakes and most importantly learn from those mistakes. My major issue with this film is that there is little or no character development at all and how underused Javier Bardem and Rachel Mcadams were. I felt if the story had also revolved around they're characters the film would have been more interesting and dynamic. Although Terrance Malick has been known to over-edit his films and shamelessly cut out pivotal plot points of the story.
The actors do a overall good job at portraying their characters, but they feel as if they were background extras in Terrance Malick's vision. To The Wonder is a fascinating piece of cinema and more of an artistic experience than a film, some may see it as pretentious, but i really liked it. I would recommend it to fans of Terrance Malick and people who are open minded to unconventional films.
Though it has received mainly mixed reviews i managed to thoroughly enjoy it. One of the films major strong points is the cinematography. Terrance Malick has proved countless times that he is a master at capturing beautiful images with such films as "Badlands" and the more well known "The Tree of Life". The style and cinematography is very reminiscent of "The Tree of Life" in the sense that it alters between the regular story and a series of images from nature. Which in a sense can damage the story and be rather off-putting. Although i, personally felt it added to the overall feeling and increased the atmosphere of the film. The film deals with such subjects as the yearning for fulfillment in life and how people search aimlessly for happiness when they don't fully understand what they're looking for. If i had to summarize my interpretation of the film i would have to say that To The Wonder is an analysis of the human condition because it shows how people contemplate they're own faith, make mistakes and most importantly learn from those mistakes. My major issue with this film is that there is little or no character development at all and how underused Javier Bardem and Rachel Mcadams were. I felt if the story had also revolved around they're characters the film would have been more interesting and dynamic. Although Terrance Malick has been known to over-edit his films and shamelessly cut out pivotal plot points of the story.
The actors do a overall good job at portraying their characters, but they feel as if they were background extras in Terrance Malick's vision. To The Wonder is a fascinating piece of cinema and more of an artistic experience than a film, some may see it as pretentious, but i really liked it. I would recommend it to fans of Terrance Malick and people who are open minded to unconventional films.