The Better Angels

Very Terrence Malicky. Look at the beautiful pictures and let yourself be sucked into the film's world and its moods. Clarke is the sort of actor who commands one's attention.

To call this "Malick-esque" would be the understatement of the century. This appears to be made by some perfectly calibrated late-period Malick algorithm, for better or worse depending on one's taste. Half of me wishes this was made ten years earlier, when i thought that Malick was the pinnacle of cinema, but the other half is afraid it might have deflated my Romantic notions about Malick's brilliance. Let me put it this way, unlike real Malick this made me think more of Barthes than Heidegger.

The Better Angels feels like a Terrence Malick film from start to finish. You're going to know best whether or not that's a good thing for you. The story told here is less important than the audience feeling what it's like to be with these characters, and that comes across well -- even if it's not always the most exciting time. The Better Angels is helped by its shorter running time, so even if you dislike it, at least it's not 160 minutes long like some its inspiration's films.