Review of Days of Heaven (1978) by Freddie F — 11 May 2011

This movie is painfully awful. The narrative and pacing are absolutely wretched. The characters are the most bland and uninteresting individuals I've ever seen in a film. The dialogue is extremely lacking. The movie lacks any unification from scene to scene except for dull 'romance' and pretty photo album stills (some of which are, admittedly, nice). The use of cross-fades is obnoxious and ill-conceived. Time lapses are impossible to understand in the film, we cannot tell between cross-fades whether minutes, months or years have passed.

Part of the way through this film I began to question why I was watching it. Isn't life more precious than to be wasted watching this garbage? Shouldn't I be watching a Bergman film I haven't yet had to pleasure to view? Or maybe take a walk. Or talk with a friend. Or watch paint dry.

I can honestly say I have not seen many films as insipid as this one. It is particularly offensive to me because it clutches at straws for its entire duration, trying to achieve some genius that it has no chance of ever possessing.

The fact that this film is so well-received is appalling to me. I don't care, I'll stand my ground: "Days of Heaven" is a total piece of junk.