The now prolific Malick has produced another soufflé
of a movie that trades the dinosaurs for cornfields. It takes us dancing and
prancing through the infantile mind of Parisian Marina (Olga Kurylenko) as
she deals with the real world of grown up relationships rather than the froth
of holiday romance. Paris is for lovers - it's everyday small town America
where relationships live and die.
The ephemeral shimmer of the cinematography and lack
of narrative plays into the sense of this being an insignificant and wistful movie.
Often it is. However the rock at the centre is the near mute Ben Affleck as
Neil whose anchor of wavering masculinity gives the gravitas and interest. It
is his character who has much more to say for all his silence and would have
been a more welcome focus than the frighty flighty Marina. This is a woman who
skips and dances around more annoyingly than Kate Blanchett in the excruciating
Benjamin Button.
But for all the fluff, the dissection of
relationships is clinical. Malick's wavering scalpel is capable of a sudden
incision that pierces both our defences and hearts. Cutting though the beauty
of the image to the rough and ready taut canvas below.
To The Wonder is a work of art that demands longitudinal
scrutiny. It will offer both annoyance in its focus and joy in its
composition.
7/10
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