Review of Days of Heaven (1978) by Ravi P — 08 Sep 2013

Before Terrence Malick went all dreamy and metaphorical on us he indulged in linear film-making. Days of Heaven is such a film. You can see the early signs of Malick's fascination with nature and bringing the best possible camera-angle to capture the environment in the most eloquent manner. The shot of the epic house standing out in a vast & seemingly endless landscape occupies multiple scenes & is just one of the many technical highlights of the film.

In terms of story, Days of Heaven comes off as less complex than it was probably conceived as on paper. This may be largely due to its awkward editing & what I can only conclude as distracting ADR (additional dialogue recording). Many lines fall flat and the emotive moments are not effectively captured.

Nonetheless, the film is short and the story is still interesting if not as impactful as I'd hoped for. It has an epic scope despite a short running-time and in the end makes for decent entertainment.