Days of Heaven (1978)
| Drama
English
"Your eyes... Your ears... Your senses... will be overwhelmed." A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
|
What I See
As I walk through my local video rental franchise and see the overwhelming
wave of "sanitized for your protection" junk that floods the market, I can
be at ease knowing there's a special place in my heart for this
diamond.
Malick's vision works like 'Catch-22' but with less irony. He accomplishes
in one shot what Oliver Stone would do in twenty and, more importantly, he
examines everything. The fact that what he examines is stunningly gorgeous
is a wonderful bonus.
More important, though, than the photography is Weber's editing. As I said
in my 'Beverly Hills' review, he's one of the top in the field. He's
handled all three of Malick's films, what other qualification do you need?
Granted there was the noisy Bruckheimer work, but every career has its sags.
Fortunately, he knows he isn't the most important person here, so he eases
back and allows us to absorb what we see.
Story? What use is that? You want story, watch Scorsese. As with his
other work, Malick uses perspective, not planning on paper. I think Shepard
caught on to that, making his role as Chuck Yeager even
weightier.
Final Analysis = = Learn from this...
