Days of Heaven (1978)

Best movie ever!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. This movie is all about visual impact and this gorgeous, haunting piece of art will leave you in awe and you will wonder how on earth did this film come out in 1978. Terrence Malick, perhaps the most elusive human being on this planet, is known as a visual director and he proves it here with his second film. The story is very simple, but the story is not supposed to be at the forefront. Apparently after several days of shooting, Malick threw away the script and told the actors to wing it. Through a long and arduous editing process, Malick was able to come up with a coherent story.Let's talk about these visuals for a second. They are completely mesmerizing and it took people by surprise upon its release. I loved the use of natural lighting on set, which gave the film its unique colors. Malick wouldn't allow the use of artificial light much to the dismay of many people who were not used to working this style. Much of the film was created during the hour just after sunset and just before it became dark. That is really impressive. Now many of the scenes are outdoors at a Texas prairie. Some of the best shots were just seeing the wheat swaying in the wind as night was falling. Two of cinema's most impressive cinematographers worked on the movie: Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler. There was some controversy because Almendros had to leave the film after a long while due to prior commitments, but he was given the credit of the work despite Wexler being able to prove he shot more than half of the film. These visuals are complimented beautifully by the haunting score of Ennio Morricone, one of the greatest composers of all time. This combination of visuals and music created a unique form of art and something wondrous to behold.The story is simple and relatively straightforward. The story did not become clear until the two years Malick spent in the editing room putting the film together. The film takes place right before the First World War. Bill (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams) are a couple from Chicago. After Bill kills a man at his workplace, he and Abby pose as siblings as they escape down south to find a new life. Along with Billy's little sister Linda (Linda Manz), they find employment on a Texas farm working the harvest. As they do the work, the farmer (Sam Shepard) has fallen in love with Abby. But Billy discovers the farmer is terminally ill and may only have one year left to live. Billy persuades Abby to marry the farmer so they can take advantage of the wealth after the farmer dies. But all may not go according to the plan.Despite emphasis being placed on the visuals, I think the acting was fantastic. The actors here were mostly new to the business, but they would go on to have long careers. (Especially Richard Gere and Sam Shepard). Gere, Shepard, and Adams have fantastic chemistry with each other which is needed when there is a love triangle. I thought Linda Manz did a really fine job. The film is told from her point-of-view and she provides a haunting narration over the course of the movie. She is only a teenager, but she goes through experiences which causes her to be far more mature than her age.Overall, Days of Heaven is a breath-taking masterpiece that allows the visuals to do its talking. This film was extremely rare for the time period it was created. With all the trouble that happened during production, it amazes me that this film is actually good. Malick had such a hard time with this film. In fact, he didn't make another film until twenty years later. That is sad because he is a talented director, and he was able to push himself over the edge to create this film. I compare this film to nature. Nature is beautiful and there is gorgeous scenery in every location of this globe. Nature can be breath-taking and that is how I feel about this film.My Grade: A

Days of Heaven is one of those strange movies that could a masterpiece of cinema if only it knew what to do. Don't get me wrong, it is a good film, but there are a lot of problems with the storytelling.Let's talk about the pros first:This movie is beautiful. It is hard to imagine this film was shot in the 70s, because it looks absolutely gorgeous. There were a lot of smart decisions on how to shoot this film, and almost all of the shots help drive the story and what is happening. This movie could be told quite easily without any dialogue or noise. This is all good, if it weren't for the voice-overs...The voice-overs in this movie are bad... not quite Thief and the Cobbler bad, but getting there. For a movie that is so obviously supposed to be told almost completely through visuals and without much dialogue, it is rather painful whenever there is a voice-over explaining to us what is happening. This movie forgets that the audience isn't "dumb".However, then this brings up some issues with the cinematography and storytelling. There were a couple of noticeable scenes where the cinematography got bad and it was always during dialogue. In one scene, our two protagonists are walking down a river together, but the camera switches from long shots, to close-ups, to mid-shots, the 180 rule gets broken multiple times, the actors start looking directly into the camera, the lighting changes, and sometimes in one shot they will start an action but then in the next shot they will be doing something completely different.For a movie with such great cinematography, it also has some really bad moments as well. Then there is the storytelling: This movie is... unique... to say the least, in how it is told. Most people find this to be the biggest flaw of this film, and I agree. The story isn't very interesting and we never really connect with the characters. In all honesty, by the end of the film I did not know the names of a single character in the film. This could have been intentional, but I thought it was most likely due to the poor audio quality whenever people are talking. Days of Heaven is strange in how it goes about because its pacing gets crazy at times and feels disjointed. Just when you think the film is about to end, you realize it has 30 more minutes left.All in all, Days of Heaven is beautiful to look at and I'm glad I watched it. For a movie released in 1978, it has aged very well (except for audio). The look of the film is the only real reason why you should be watching it. Is there a story here? Yes, but that is the film's weakest point.On a super nit-picky note, the movie frequently uses an excerpt from Saint Saens' Carnival of the animals: Aquarium, and it never really fits. Maybe to people who don't know this piece, but the piece is describing fish swimming around in an aquarium; which never really matches the scenery of open plains with romantic drama :P

It's 1916. Bill (Richard Gere) is a hothead. He accidentally kills his supervisor in a Chicago steel mill. He runs away with his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) and her sister Linda who narrates the movie. They find work harvesting a vast land for a farmer (Sam Shepard). Bill and Abby pretends to be siblings to avoid scrutiny. The farmer falls for Abby. Bill convinces Abby to marry the terminally ill farmer for his money. However, his death doesn't come and Bill becomes concern.Terrence Malick knows how to make a beautiful looking film. His collaboration with cinematographer Nestor Almendros is absolutely brilliant. The scored by Ennio Morricone invokes an ethereal quality. It's a movie that should be shown in museums. I'm not as taken with a young Richard Gere in the role. He's way too pretty. His wavy hair is too lovely. He has that playboy swagger. He doesn't fit the steel mill worker and farm worker character. He looks more like a hustler. I do love Brooke Adams in the role. The little girl Linda is another matter. She is stiff and I hate the narration. It keeps the movie devoid of emotions. If Malick insists on making Linda the protagonist, he could at least make her interesting.

Days of Heaven came as surprise to me. A good surprise I should add. I knew of the films reputation as a beautiful movie with a good story, but to my great enjoyment I was still completely blown away by the near perfect cinematography.Set in the large opens plains of Texas in 1916, Days of Heaven is filmed with such attention to detail and grand scope that it almost numbs the mind. Every single shot of the movie is carefully considered tells its own story.As for the story, the film is about a young couple working for a rich landowner. The landowner, dying from an unspecified disease, falls in love with the women and her boyfriend convince her to marry the rich man in order to land his money.Offcause things don't go as planned but what happens next is something you will have to experience yourself in one the best movies from the golden 1970's. Enjoy!