As the enigmatic director Terrence Malick has gradually inched out more into the public eye, boosting the increased pace of his output with rare in-person promotional appearances, so too has he begun to engage with the wider ecosphere of the moving image. What was once a career marked exclusively by theatrical features, spaced many years…

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Notable Festivals: Cannes In my Catholic grade school, we were required to start each day with the Pledge of Allegiance like any other school. We would dutifully stand with our hands over our hearts, face the flag, and monotonously recite the words that had been hammered into our memory. We didn’t give much thought to…

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When director Terrence Malick’s commercial for Mon Guerlain fragrance arrived in 2017, many were quite surprised that the venerated, almost-mythic filmmaker could (and would) stoop to a supposedly “lower” format such as advertising.  Its very existence seemed antithetical to Malick’s artistic creed— a product generated for the benefit of a corporate entity, rather than a…

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As a medium, virtual reality has primarily been the domain of tech-savvy, youth-oriented marketing outfits— advertisers saw an opportunity to define the contours of entertainment’s future, and they eagerly dove in with a wave of branded content that revolutionized the concept of “immersive” video.  Of its various genres and sub-formats, 360 degree video — video…

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Notable Festivals: SXSW Since the emergence of his latter-day aesthetic with 1998’s THE THIN RED LINE, director Terrence Malick has seemingly pursued a relentless quest to discover the unknown edges of narrative and visual expression.  This all-consuming adventure into the opaque inner mysteries of our shared existence promises untold revelations and philosophical riches– yet it…

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With the exception of his AFI short, LANTON MILLS (1969), director Terrence Malick has worked pretty much exclusively in the theatrical feature format, but his influence extends beyond them to music videos and commercials.  Fashion and luxury brands in particular turn to Malick’s style for inspiration in a bid to equate their products with high…

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Still basking in the recent glow of his Palme d’Or win for THE TREE OF LIFE (2011), director Terrence Malick had seemingly discovered a newfound burst of vitality by mining his own past for narrative inspiration.  2012’s TO THE WONDER had explored his time in Paris, as well as the former flames and complicated relationship…

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Notable Festivals: Venice Over the course of a filmmaking career that has spanned nearly four decades but only produced five feature films, director Terrence Malick has become more of a myth than a man.  In the eyes of the filmgoing public, he has unwittingly cultivated the aura of a mysterious recluse, emerging from his hiding…

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Notable Festivals: Venice, Toronto Part of the stated mission of “The Directors Series” is watching a given filmmaker’s output in chronological order, so as to better chart his or her artistic development. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and Terrence Malick’s experimental documentary VOYAGE OF TIME (2016)  is one particularly apt exception.…

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Notable Festivals:  Cannes (Palme d’Or) Inducted into the Criterion Collection: 2018 Before he embarked on his twenty year hiatus from filmmaking, director Terrence Malick was laboring over the development of an ambitious passion project he had enigmatically dubbed “Q”.  The success of 1978’s DAYS OF HEAVEN had set him up to develop anything he wanted,…

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This article is excerpted from “Paradise Conquered”, Part 2 of our video essay series on Terrence Malick Inducted into the Criterion Collection:  2016 There are many films I regret not seeing in a theater.  Sure, watching movies at home offers the ability to avoid those annoying crowds and plunking down serious cash for two hours…

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