Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

04 January 2006

The New World

Tonight I went to the Arclight to see Terrence Malick's The New World. I should write a proper review of the film, but I can't really handle that right now. Instead I will say that I am absolutely ecstatic about this film. I feel a little bit drunk on it, if you know what I mean. Like I was feeding off of the film and now it's over and I'm a little helpless. It's a wonderful, sensory-overload kind of thing with two lovely performances at its core. Colin Farrell's John Smith is a haunted, tender man and the new-to-cinema Q'orianka Kilcher's Pocahantas is a rare gem of a performance. In this girl's eyes are held everything anyone could ever hope for: the rise and fall of nations, pain like you wouldn't believe, and all the forgiveness in the world. I'm sold. The movie is wonderful: a feast for the eyes and ears. The cinematography is so stunning I wanted to cry and the score (by James Horner) is heartbreakingly lovely.

I had planned on seeing The New World tonight anyway, but when I got home from the Airport, I read an item saying that tonight was the very last night that this current version of the film will be playing. After tonight, they will replace this version with a shorter-by-seventeen-minutes cut of the film. I'm glad I saw the cut I did.

I moved The New World to number one on my list for the year. Malick may not be your thing, but it's definitely mine, so I'm recommending it to everyone. Go see it.

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