Editing Terrence Malick (section)

==Themes and style==
Critics have noted the philosophical themes of Malick's films.<ref name="Rybin"/> According to film scholar Lloyd Michaels, Malick's main themes include "the isolated individual's desire for transcendence amidst established social institutions, the grandeur and untouched beauty of nature, the competing claims of instinct and reason, and the lure of the open road".<ref name="Rybin">{{cite book|last=Rybin|first=Steven|page=xiv|chapter=Introduction|title=Terrence Malick and the Thought of Film|year=2012|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-0739166758}}</ref> He named ''Days of Heaven'' as one in a group of acclaimed films from the 1970s that were intended to revolutionize the American [[epic film|film epic]]. Like [[The Godfather (film series)|''The Godfather'' films]] (1972, 1974), ''[[Nashville (film)|Nashville]]'' (1975), and ''[[The Deer Hunter]]'' (1978), Michaels argued that the movie delves into "certain national myths" as an idiosyncratic type of Western, "particularly the migration westward, the dream of personal success, and the clash of agrarian and industrial economies".<ref name="Michaels4041"/> [[Roger Ebert]] considered Malick's body of work to have a unifying common theme: "Human lives diminish beneath the overarching majesty of the world."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ebert|first1=Roger|title=Badlands Movie Review & Film Summary (1973)|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-badlands-1973|website=RogerEbert.com|publisher=Ebert Digital LLC|access-date=11 July 2016|date=24 June 2011}}</ref> In Ebert's opinion, Malick was among the few remaining directors who yearned "to make no less than a masterpiece".<ref name=Ebert2011TOL>{{cite web|last1=Ebert|first1=Roger|title=The Tree of Life Movie Review (2011)|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-tree-of-life-2011|website=RogerEbert.com|publisher=Ebert Digital LLC|access-date=11 July 2016|date=2 June 2011}}</ref> While reviewing ''The Tree of Life'', ''[[The New York Times]]'' critic [[A. O. Scott]] compared Malick to innovative "homegrown romantics" such as the writers [[Walt Whitman]], [[Hart Crane]], [[James Agee]], and [[Herman Melville]], in the sense that their "definitive writings" also "did not sit comfortably or find universal favor in their own time" but nonetheless "leaned perpetually into the future, pushing their readers forward toward a new horizon of understanding".<ref>Scott, A. O. {{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/movies/the-tree-of-life-from-terrence-malick-review.html?ref=movies&pagewanted=2|title=The Tree of Life (2011)|work=The New York Times|date=May 26, 2011 |access-date=25 September 2013 |last1=Scott |first1=A. O. }}</ref>

Malick's body of work has inspired polarized opinions. According to Michaels, "few American directors have inspired such adulation and rejection with each successive film" as Malick. Michaels said that in all of American cinema, Malick is the filmmaker most frequently "granted genius status after creating such a discontinuous and limited body of work".<ref name="Michaels4041">{{cite book|last=Michaels|first=Lloyd|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jSNCB6yCJPoC&pg=PA1&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=jSNCB6yCJPoC&pg=PA40&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 40–41]|title=Terrence Malick|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0252075759}}</ref> Malick makes use of broad philosophical and spiritual overtones, such as in the form of meditative [[voice-over]]s from individual characters. Some critics feel these elements made the films engaging and unique, while others find them pretentious and gratuitous, particularly in his post-hiatus work.<ref name="LaRocca">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbaVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA391|last=LaRocca|first=David|page=391|title=The Philosophy of War Films|publisher=[[The University Press of Kentucky]]|year=2014|isbn=978-0813145129}}</ref> Michaels believed the opinions ''Days of Heaven'' continues to elicit among scholars and film enthusiasts exemplify this: "The debate continues to revolve around what to make of 'its extremities of beauty', whether the exquisite lighting, painterly compositions, dreamy dissolves, and fluid camera movements, combined with the epic grandeur and elegiac tone, sufficiently compensate for the thinness of the tale, the two-dimensionality of the characters, and the resulting emotional detachment of the audience."<ref name="Michaels4041"/> ''Reverse Shot'' journalist Chris Wisniewski regarded both ''Days of Heaven'' and ''The New World'' not as "literary nor theatrical" but "principally cinematic" in their aesthetic, intimating narrative, emotional, and conceptual themes through the use of "image and sound" instead of "foregrounding dialogue, events or characters". He highlighted Malick's use of "rambling philosophical voiceovers; the placid images of nature, offering quiet contrast to the evil deeds of men; the stunning cinematography, often achieved with natural light; the striking use of music".<ref>{{cite web|last=Wisniewski|first=Chris|url=http://www.reverseshot.com/article/terrence_malick|title=Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven and The New World|work=Reverse Shot|date=26 April 2008|access-date=19 April 2011}}</ref>