Review of To the Wonder (2013) by Denisovich — 12 Apr 2013

To the Wonder is actual art in favour of modern arty pizzazz, it is cinematic poetry in place of those "art" films that are petrified at doing anything different, it is uncompromising in its technique, holding up a middle finger to any man who dare say: "No, Malick, stop! Art is bad for us boo! boring! boredom!" The Tree of Life was a vast, monstrous creation that swallowed up the earth and the universe in its vision but it still held tight to certain narrative constraints, and one could almost feel the aching soul of Malick trying to get out, to create a style which was utterly his own, and now he has done it: To the Wonder is less a film than a Renaissance work of art, a modern idealist painting of colours, movement, sensuality and sound: the characters are avatars into which Malick pours his ideas, expressing their hopes and sorrows through speed, walking, running, sunlight, water, air, wind, anything from nature.

.. one has to press pause or constantly replay almost every frame and immerse himself in what it would feel like to be in those places, to hear those sounds... he somehow makes the sound of water so shockingly beautiful, he is a painter let loose in film, who allows his audience to actually feel the beauty of the world, more so than any other living film director.

There is no real narrative and there are no characters worth describing we wouldn't criticise a Shakespeare sonnet for lacking in story, or a Da Vinci for telling us very little about the Madonna or the Mona Lisa, in the same way that Malick has gone beyond names or places, the jargon dialogue of famous movie characters that makes them "memorable"; this is what it feels like to be alive, in 1 hour and 52 minutes.