Review of Song to Song (2017) by Karin O — 19 Aug 2017

This one is not going to be for everyone. It features an all star cast, but like the previous two Terrence Malick films To the Wonder (2012) and Knight of Cups (2015) the film is very "artsy" and is one of those films you have to decipher for yourself.

It's told through a series of events which the director himself has stated how life itself is a series of memories and events and that's why the film is shot this way. It's a lot more coherent than the last two films story wise, but it's still one of those blink and you could miss a little subtle moment here and there.

The film roughly is about a songwriter named Faye (Rooney Mara) who hooks up with her boss Cook (Michael Fassbender) thinking it will help her career since Cook is a music producer. She then falls in love with Cook's protege BV (Ryan Gosling) and what ensues is a love triangle.

Natalie Portman also stars as a waitress named Rhonda who gets manipulated by Cook. The cinematography in this movie is so stunning. There's some scenes that are just truly breathtaking or touching.

One that comes to mind is a scene where BV is taking care of his terminally ill father and the subtle gestures of brushing food off of his shirt and Gosling crying and stating, "this isn't how we pictured it" comes together perfectly in that scene.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of scenes that just seem to wander a bit too long. I really enjoyed the first half of this film, but then after that the 3rd quarter of this film really struggles. At over 2 hours of run time I almost feel like cutting out 15 more minutes would have gotten the point across a bit better.

The film does have those pacing issues, but it's nice to see that it comes full round by the end of the movie. it still has a pretty ambiguous ending and like I said a lot of people probably won't even get past 15 minutes of this film, but if you can appreciate a unique film that doesn't hold your hand then give this one a look.