Review of Days of Heaven (1978) by Chris H — 25 Jul 2011
Like with Badlands, it's nowhere near my favourite Malick film, and it's a little hard to love as much as some of his later stuff, but it's still a visually and poetically beautiful film. The settings are great, the rich/poor musing is good, and Gere, Adams and Shepard are all good in this interesting love triangle.
The little girl who narrates the film (Maz) is great and it's through her that Malick gets across most of his philosophical ideas. Hearing her POV is great since she can be as intelligent at times as she can be naive at others (just like Spacek's character in Badlands, who also narrates that film - there are many similarities between this and Badlands.
I respected it on a first watch, but found it hard to love. I just watched it again, but this time in the cinema and a brand new digital restoration of the film, and I understood more this time and missed less, giving it my full attention, and I like it more now overall (upped it from 3 1/2 to 4).
Indeed it is quite possibly "the most gorgeously photographed film ever made", as The Village Voice argued, and is among the best examples of Malick's genius.
This review of Days of Heaven (1978) was written by Chris H on 25 Jul 2011.
Days of Heaven has generally received very positive reviews.
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