Oscar Season is here, and one hopes that the voters haven't been slacking off as much as I have. That having been said, I have some food for thought concerning one of my favorite films of the year, Terrence Malick's The New World.
This film, for some reason, snuck into theatres just days before the end of the year deadline, and received virtually no studio push for academy consideration. Malick's last feature film, The Thin Red Line, scooped up the almost obligatory 7 nominations that a large scale, star-studded film about World War II can expect, but won none.
The Thin Red Line was a good film, but was weighted down by unnecessary voice overs and had the misfortune of being released in the same year as the far superior Saving Private Ryan. How that film didn't win Best Picture, I still don't understand. Even the people who made Shakespeare in Love know that their film was second best.
Anyway, The New World is a vast improvement over Malick's earlier work. Choosing to work with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (whose work has been previously nominated for Sleepy Hollow and A Little Princess results in perhaps the best looking picture of the past five years. Every single image in this film exists as an individually crafted photograph, and together they instill the sense of awe and wonder that so perfectly captures to emotion and lure of "The New World". The acting by Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Q'Orianka Kilcher, and especially Christian Bale is spot on, and the screenplay is deliberately and effectively sparing with dialogue. The film moves and flows like a living thing.
I felt the desperation of the soldiers stuck at the outpost for the winter. I felt the confusion of John Smith as he is interrogated in a language he doesn't understand. Most powerfully, I felt the weight and depression of London after being taken away from the beauty of Virginia just like Pocahantas.
Because of the timing of its release and the studio's decision to not push for any substantial nominations, The New World managed one Academy Award nomination. I don't need to tell you what it is, because if you've read this or seen the film, you know - but I'm afraid to say that I'm almost certain it will lose to Brokebutt Mounthim. Oh well.
Regardless, if you are a film conosseur, or have any interest in photography - or even if you just want to see a different kind of movie with some great performances - you need to see The New World. It's a shame that it's flying so low under the radar, because it is far and away one of the best films of the year.