The New World
In reality, I shouldn’t try this review. You remember what happened with “Alexander?” Yeah, that happened here as well; not to that extent (which was just embarassing), but it was hard to keep my eyes open throughout. However, I feel as though I can give this film- the latest from reclusive writer/director Terrence Malick (it’s only his fourth in 32 years, and first since 1998’s “The Thin Red Line”)- a fair assessment, and also a way of going into the fundamental flaw I’ve found in many Malick films (only his first feature “Badlands” achieves classic status with me).
In “The New World,” Malick explores the story of the colonization of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, specifically through the courtship between English Captain Smith (Colin Farrell, with a more intriguing role as a simple character here than he had as a complex one in “Alexander”) and Pocahontas (an impressive and radiant debut for 15-year old Q’orianka Kilcher), the young Indian woman he falls in love with. Their love is a bridge between the two cultures, but a lack of trust in one another burns it as the English regard the Indians as “savages” and the natives distrust the settlers who come and ravage the land with no respect for it.
But don’t expect a story of cross-culture tensions, like you might expect from the story (although the culture clash is examined, just not on the charged level of say “Crash”). “The New World” is a film solely about Pocahontas. Her relationship with Smith, which ends abruptly when he is summoned back to London to lead other expeditions in search of the Indies (though she is told he’s dead), which leads to a courtship/marriage to farmer John Rolfe (Christian Bale, finishing an impressive 2005- after “Batman Begins” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”- with another intelligent and thoughtful performance). Her thoughts are expressed to us in narration, a device prevalent in all of Malick’s films (I’m pretty sure it was in “Badlands,” which I haven’t seen in nearly a decade), but arguably more effective here than in either “Days of Heaven”- his 1978 feature which I found less than impressive my first (and only) time watching it- or especially “The Thin Red Line,” where Malick’s insistance on pretentious philosophical voiceover that sounded exactly like that ruined the impact of that most unusual war drama. The narration in “New World”- not only by Pocahontas but also, less frequently, by Smith and Rolfe- is effective because it sounds natural (the actor’s seem to believe their characters would sound like this) and lacks the forced philosophy of “Line’s” while informing what we see onscreen. Still, while I admire Malick’s boldness in employing this technique, which is inherently hit-and-miss, it can also lead to a distancing with the emotions we’re supposed to be feeling with what’s going onscreen, which brings me to my biggest issue with Malick’s work in general- the lack of feeling felt in stories we should feel great emotion within. “The New World” is fundamentally structured like a love story, but be it between Pocahontas and Smith or Pocahontas and Rolfe, despite the talent in front of the camera- all of whom are capable of rich dramatic work (even newbie Kilcher, as evidence in the fact that despite the lack of palpable feeling in her character’s story, I remained interested throughout)- none are able to register any real emotions in Malick’s thoughtfully-constructed screenplay because of the filmmaker’s seeming insistence on a muted, distant dramatic approach.
That said, though, as a composer, I would love to work with Malick. His films resonate with a visual and musical beauty that doesn’t require words to say what Malick wants to with his story. Watching “The New World,” I thought of Malick as an American version of Andrei Tarkovsky, the Russian master whose films I admire greatly for their thematic resonance and wonderous visuals (“Stalker” and “Andrei Rublev” are of particular significance to me); he is one of my primary artistic influences. Tarkovsky’s work could sometimes be punishingly slow, but what set him apart- like Stanley Kubrick and, to a certain degree, Malick- was his realization that words weren’t always needed to tell a story in cinema; there are long passages with very little dialogue at all, and they result in a pure form of cinema which is unlike anything else a viewer will ever see. Malick’s films contain similar moments depicting various types of scenes- the beauty and violence of nature (mostly), the horror of battle, the longing and desires of life- but the impact of such scenes can be undercut by his use of narration many times (most notably an issue in “Line”). All of his films are natural visual feasts for the eyes, and “The New World” is no exception, with master cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (“Sleepy Hollow,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”) following in the tradition of past Malick collaborators John Toll (the two time Oscar winner who shot “Line”), Nestor Almendros (who shot “Heaven,” with additional work by the legendary Haskell Wexler, and won an Oscar for the film), and Tak Fujimoto (one of the best and boldest modern cinematographers), Stevan Larner, and Brian Probyn (all credited for “Badlands”) and brings a distinct eye to “World’s” singular, well, world and gives the film a look that distiguishes itself from Malick’s previous movies while also fitting with Malick’s tradition of creating rich cinematic paintings that leave indelible impressions on the viewer. I may not agree with all of his choices in telling his stories, but Malick’s films continue to resonate with the idea of creating a singular cinematic vision, and that’s an idea worth celebrating.
As I said before, as a composer, I would love to work with Malick. Some of the greatest and most distinct voices in film music already have. Ennio Morricone (“Days of Heaven”- the main reason I now must watch that movie again), Hans Zimmer (whose score for “The Thin Red Line” is arguably his best), and now, James Horner, who was tapped to score “The New World” by Malick. Horner has had a rough time of it in recent years (actually, one could argue since the ’90s). He’s not- one might say- a fan favorite. Sure, he’s written popular scores for the likes of “Braveheart,” “Apollo 13,” “Glory,” “The Man Without a Face,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Aliens,” “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “The Mask of Zorro,” and- of course- his Oscar-winning opus “Titanic,” but he also has a nasty tendency, as even his biggest fans will attest to, towards recycling past motifs and sounds (see, most egregiously, “Courage Under Fire,” “Troy,” and “Deep Impact”). You hear it in most of his scores, even his best, and it can get on a listeners nerves…especially if you feel adament about defending scores like “Ransom” (also one of his best), “Windtalkers,” “Patriot Games,” and “House of Sand and Fog,” all of which have many of the Hornerisms film music fans can hum in their sleep (in their nightmares), but all of which have moments or cues that are among the composer’s most inspired (“Windtalkers” in particular is a good example of this for me). Put “A New World” in this second group, the culmination of a fine creative year for Horner (sure, his music for “The Legend of Zorro” was a rehash (albeit a lively one), but his music for “Flightplan” was everything a suspense score should be). Like Zimmer on “Line,” Horner was clearly inspired by the quiet beauty of Malick’s film to create a score that contains many of the same qualities we hear in his scores, but also whittles his style and sound down into a musical form that is pure, almost classical (surely as minimalistic as he’s ever gotten) in the way it complements the visuals almost indirectly, and stands outside of them many of the time. Yes, further down the road we’re treated to the usual Hornerisms, but by that point even the most jaded film music fan has to admit that this most predictable of composers has given us a score of rare and unique beauty that few of us could have predicted he still had in him. Working for Malick has been an inspiration for some of the biggest names in film music (even if his films have difficulty finding an emotional center in their visual poetry)- what composer wouldn’t want to work for him?
