Knight of Cups - Lives up to my expectations. Genius.

Knight of Cups

2015

Terrence Malick

In the very start of cinema, you had the rotoscope.  It was the illusion of images flashing by through little slots in a circular metal container, and your eye did not see the little slots at the right speed, but they blurred together, allowing the glimpses of the images on the opposite side of the hollow container to be "glanced" at through them, and since the images were in sequence, that gave the illusion of motion.  It's still the same today, at 24 frames per second, or 30, or 60, depending on the camera.

The very early cinema was a desire to create the illusion of motion.  The material used for the motion images varied from horses to people walking, or throwing a ball.  But from then on, structure began to form, and cinema evolved into storytelling.  The novelty of the simple image quickly grew into an art form not just of the image, but of the meaningful interaction between image and observer.  The most artful became master of the image so that it told the most effective story.  

Malick lived up to my expectation, as noted in my prediction in my Facebook post which I almost never write, in that his masterful use of the image as primary in creating his stories has come to full fruition in Knight of Cups.  He has finally transcended cinema's modern constraints for good, and I don't see him looking back.  

As much as entertainment fans may cringe at the thought, this is what truly great cinema should be.  His work is as close to the dreamlike experience of existential thought as the dream itself.  There is no doubt there is a great deal of direction, manipulation (as difficult as it is to sense that word as positive, it is), and content.  In fact, there is so much more content here packed into it's 2 hours that it could take weeks to unpack it.  

This is such a totally different approach to storytelling that it draws largely bifurcated reactions, packed firmly into 2 camps, one being the "love it" camp all of whom may not be able to explain why they do, but they do, and the bewildered or "hate it" camp, which will no doubt admire the energy and visual beauty of Cups, but will likely eschew the depth of it on the grounds of what appears to be the absence of plot and dialogue.

After just seeing it tonight, I have to say I will need to see it again.  It deserves a second viewing, or repeated viewings.   Those who would downplay the film as possibly pandering to lower visual tastes and appealing to salivating predators needing eye-candy fixes either have not really viewed the film, or are perhaps in that class of moviegoers themselves and not paying attention.  The great juxtapositions that Terrence is making here are a teeter-totter of the conscience, the ocean tides giving a perfect metaphor for the ebb and flow of an embattled soul-searching male in the onslaught of post-modernity, and also the very fact of being a vulnerable male, subject to what every man is subjected to in some degree, sooner or later, without exceptions.  

There is one line in the traditionally Malick hushy-whispery monologues that slip by us often quickly and without seeming connection (although on examination you'll find that they are solidly connected and filled with multiple meanings), and I had to actually get my phone out and note it down before I forgot it exactly as quoted.  It is a line of monologue floating above the scenes of Bale's character Rick interacting with the strip club girl played by Isabel Lucas I believe.  It is the girl's voice:

"We're not living the lives we're meant for......We're meant for something else."

THAT is a load of content that we could talk about all night, and deliciously delivered by the most blatantly audacious of the girls Rick is drawn in by.  That would be Malick's great gift of irony subtly yet also boldly swashed across the screen for our minds to wrap around.  Malick is very much like the court jester here, a goofy character seemingly out of place, but absolutely treasured by the King because the biting wit of a great jester holds great value and substance.

To end the film with the word "Begin" is also just such a play for us.  We are given the many facets of a jewel, and then it's laid before us on the table and the question is asked of us, "What will you do with it"?  The open road speeds towards us as the last image.

To be continued.....