Days of Heaven

Release Year: 1978

Director: Terrence Malick 

Review: If only films could be framed and hung on the wall, 'Days of Heaven' would be a fixture in any museum.  It is absolutely beautiful.  In pre-depression America, a manual laborer, Bill (Richard Gere), accidently kills his steel mill boss and flees to Texas with his girlfriend and sister.  To avoid controversy, Bill and his girlfriend Abby(Brooke Adams) pretend to be siblings.  Desperate for work, they are hired as temporary help in a wheat field where Bill learns that the foreman is sick with a terminal illness.  In a scam to get his inheritance, he convinces Abby to marry the farmer.

The plot has strong themes of desperation and love.  Watching Bill struggle with seeing his girlfriend with another man, and her own internal dilemma with carrying out the scam is captivating.  While the emotions may be intense, the delivery is subdued.  Most of the dialog has been removed, leaving the visuals and inferred feelings speak volumes.  The narration by Bill's younger sister Linda (Linda Manz) adds layers to the stripped down narrative style.  It is the haunting, almost hypnotic, heartbeat to the film.

The true brilliance in Days of Heaven is it's cinematography.  While the narrative isn't a weak point, it is simple overshadowed by the sheer power of the photography.  Pushed by directory Terrance Malick, cinematographer Nestor Almendros shoots the film almost entirely at 'magic hour'.  Magic hour is actually less than half an hour, and is the time after the sunset sets, but before night.  It gives an aura to the epic shots which Almendros captures which is indescribable.  Shots so beautiful it sends shivers through your core.  This beauty matched with the sparse story fills you with a warmth which sucks you in and enamors you to this film.  One word can summarize the entire film: beautiful.

Rating: 4/5

Interiors

Release Year: 1978
Review: Woody Allen's first completely dramatic film, about the struggles of a family coping with a controlling mother who is going through a mental breakdown. Allen takes a decidedly different tone than in any of his previous work. Gone is the familiar silliness and playfulness that viewers of Allen's work are accustomed to, replaced by a very frigid, somber, and unabashedly serious film. The writing is crisp, and Allen's wit and philosophy shine through, but there is very little to laugh at. The lack of humor is not a problem, but the sheer bleakness and steady onslaught of emotion filled tirades are a bit draining and I feel some of the meaning is lost in this almost over calculated and sterile drama. The movie is, however, wonderfully acted, and paired with Allen's talent with dialog, individual scenes are profound and work perfectly in isolation. As a whole, I felt as though Allen was trying too hard to make a purely dramatic film and it suffered for it.
Rating: 3/5