Latest
Contact
filmOA v2.0
filmOA | blu-ray
cast&crew | Olga Kurylenko, Ben Affleck and Javier Bardem
play trailer
To the Wonder
poetry or frolicking?
When Tree of Life of life came out in 2011, many celebrated Terrence Malick’s poetic comeback, six years after his last film The New World. But now, two years later, with that movie still fresh in the back of our minds, can To the Wonder create the same impact?
In To the Wonder, Ben Affleck plays a Texan who takes soil samples at industrial sites and subsequently gets a lot of feedback (comments) from the community when doing so. But none of that is explained much. Nothing is explained actually, since story and dialogs are thin. This film is about a poetic combination of imagery, music and voice-overs. It's a story about love between two people, but also between a person and God. A story blockbuster lovers most likely want to avoid. And even the indie crowd doesn’t seem too sure about.
Where in The Tree of Life the alternative poetic nature of the film was very enjoyable, To the Wonder takes it to the extreme. Half of the film seems to be Olga Kurylenko and Ben Affleck frolicking around trees, objects and each other. And while these ballet dances seem to come natural to Olga Kurylenko, even Ben Affleck sometimes feels lost on the screen as to what to do and what moves to make next.
Javier Bardem and Ben Affleck
While Malick sometimes wrote extended dialogs, he asked the actors to act these words out instead of speaking them. Sometimes this creates powerful moments, when the two have a breakup for example — and Affleck hooks up with a local, played by Rachel McAdams. But at other times this makes the film seem a bit pointless and too poetic for its own good.
To the Wonder is an enjoyable experiment for the crowd that enjoys a film without conventional storytelling. But if you’re looking for something where the depth is in the story and dialogs, this is not for you. In the end, it feels like To the Wonder fails where Tree of Life succeeded.
filmOA
Olga Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams
64%
worth the popcorn
