Review of Knight of Cups (2015) by James R — 08 Apr 2017

Am I possibly buying into this new form of cinema Terrence Malick is doing? In the same veins of Tree of Life (2011) & To The Wonder (2012) Knight of Cups is not a traditional film. It's told very loosely and features a movie where it's more for the audience to break down what exactly the hell is going on.

We follow Rick (Christian Bale) a screenwriter in Los Angeles that is looking for love and happiness. He is reeling from the death of his brother and also is concerned for his other brother's lifestyles.

He finds an escape through many types of different women. The film is broken up into parts based on Tarot Cards (thus the title). The Moon follows his relationship with a young lady named Della (Imogen Poots).

The Hanged Man goes over his relationship with his brother Barry (Wes Bentley) and his father Joseph (Brian Dennehy). The Hermit is about his interactions in a party run by a man named Tonio (Antonio Banderas).

Judgement goes over his relationship with his ex wife Nancy (Cate Blanchett). The Tower find Rick meeting a model named Helen (Freida Pinto). The High Priestess is where Rick starts seeing a stripped named Karen (Teresa Palmer).

Death is where Rick has a relationship with a married woman named Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) who becomes pregnant with maybe his kid. Lastly it ends with Freedom where Rick realizes his potential in a way and finds solace with a woman named Isabel (Isabel Lucas).

Ok so the thing is there really was no script apparently. It's a lot of improve and it explains mostly the feelings going on the screen through a series of voice overs. The movie is shot beautifully.

There's one thing Malick can do and it's make these films look absolutely gorgeous. The soundtrack works too. It's not a film for everyone though. It's definitely one of those films that film buffs may enjoy, but for most people this will be a skip.

Me personally...it kinda worked. I was a big fan of the Tree of Life, but found To The Wonder to be incredibly boring. Maybe it's because of Christian Bale, but man I was kinda feeling this one. Overall, take a look if you can bear the style, but like I stated this will not be for everyone!