tiresome

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2009)

These seems to be a lot of fawning going on in the reviews of The New World. Malick is no sacred cow, and I speak as one who worships his greatness in "Badlands", which I saw on it's initial release. I've been a Malick aficionado since then. The reviews here can also seem unpleasantly 'superior' .. as in "if you don't get this you are cinematically illiterate" ... This is nasty stuff and points to a similar weakness in the film too - it is overly self-satisfied. My pleasure in watching this was sharing it with my fifteen year old daughter, who has a good eye for subtlety and image. This is a strong point of Malicks too, so I wanted to pair her up with his work. We enjoyed the 'experience' as some reviewers insist on calling it, but the film also tires, and often infuriates with repetitive non-verbal cues. Yes, Terry, we get it, the first time. My impression was the structure was too long on 'art' and too short on narrative. Does this make me a cinematic illiterate? BTW, can one of the more "literate" reviewers here comment on whether English colonists should appear in Virgina wearing what appear to be Conquistador helmets ?