THE NEW WORLD: Malick Tinkering (Again!)

[AndyDursin]

I'm interested in checking out THE NEW WORLD, Terence Malick's latest, but it seems the director is at it once again with his wacky editing....sounds like shades of THIN RED LINE when various actors got chopped out either entirely (Bill Pullman, Gary Oldman, Lukas Haas, Viggo Mortensen, Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton's narration) or just about completely (George Clooney)...I also read on the FSM boards that New Line's soundtrack album of James Horner's score will have more score in it than the movie itself (no surprise there, perhaps, too).

Malick's 'New World' May Shrink
December 21, 2005

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- In recent weeks, critics and select audiences have been treated to a 149 minute cut of Terrence Malick's new opus "The New World," either hailing the film as hypnotically epic or abusively excessive.

That may all be on the verge of changing.

In an unusual step -- slightly less bizarre coming from the reliably idiosyncratic "Badlands" director -- Malick is still reportedly tinkering with his film and it may be a somewhat different production by the time mainstream audiences see it.

According to Variety, Malick is in the process of making 15-20 minutes of trims from "The New World," removing no major chunks, but tightening the entire production. But who, exactly, will see this shorter cut? The trade paper claims that the longer version of the film will go into limited release this weekend and that all DVD screeners sent to guild and Academy members will be of the 149 minute cut.

However, New Line will receive a shorter cut either at the end of this week or the beginning of next week and executives will decide if that version of the film will be the one that goes into wide release around the time of the Jan. 31 Oscar nominations.

Malick is notorious for shooting and shooting and shooting -- over one million feet of film were reportedly shot on "New World" -- and then finding his specific story in the editing room, a process that has frequently left extended subplots and forced co-stars to wonder how they went from featured players to extras in a matter of weeks.

As of last Friday, "The New World" was about the romance between Pocahontas and John Smith (Colin Farrell) in colonial Virginia. Who knows what it will be about by the time Malick is finished.

[Monterey Jack]

I found The Thin Red Line to be a big pile of pretentious poo, so I'm not terribly enthused about The New World. Give me Disney's underrated Pocahontas any day.

[Eric W.]

I found The Thin Red Line to be a big pile of pretentious poo, so I'm not terribly enthused about The New World. Give me Disney's underrated Pocahontas any day.

Wow, I was with you all the way until you named that POS at the end of your comment.

[AndyDursin]

I found The Thin Red Line to be a big pile of pretentious poo, so I'm not terribly enthused about The New World. Give me Disney's underrated Pocahontas any day.

THIN RED LINE is pretentious but I found it beautifully shot and compelling despite its drawbacks. THE NEW WORLD might be another "Evil White Man" movie, but between the cinematography and Horner's score, I'm willing to give it a shot.

[Bill Williams]

The previews I'd seen for it thus far have looked interesting, but I lost all interest in this film immediately when I saw that Colin Farrell was in it. I cannot stand him at all. Count me out of this one.

[Paul MacLean]

DP

[Paul MacLean]

I saw this film last night. I have not seen any of Terrence Malick's other films, but I mostly wanted to see it because I am intrested in the time period, as well as Native American cultures.

I thought it was great. Leisurely-paced to be sure, and not made in a typical "Hollywood" fashion. Much of it had the feel of a documentary, with John Smith's and Pocahontas' scenes shot hand-held with little dialog, but occassonal voice-overs by the actors.

The use of music was...different. Several scenes use the opening of Wagner's "Das Rhinegold" (which works well over the intro, but not as well over the closing scene. James Horner's music is sparingly used, and one cue (used at least three times) is VERY similar to the main title from Braveheart (sans the pipes).

But it worked overall. Colin Farrell's John Smith was hard to like, but I think that was the point. I will add I do't think he's such a hot actor (can he speak in any accent other than his native Irish?). Chrsitian Bale is (unsurprisingly)far-better. Wes Studi is fantastic as usual, but the stand-out performance is Q'Orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. The film is really more her story, and she really carries it. And lets be honest, she's also lovely to behold. I was amazed (and a little embarassed) to discover she was only *15*!

I appreciated Malick avoided the "white man bad, red man good" cliche of so many other films. This film depicted goodness and villany on both sides. Clashes between the two factions were a matter of territoriality, rather than "racism".

It was atmospheric, raw, BRILLIANTLY shot by Emmanuel Lubezki (sp?), and resonated with powerful evocation of nature and the wilderness (yet avoided excessive "beauty shots").

It does seem to have been cut-down. In the scene where Pocahontas meets King James, the king has no dialog -- yet he is played by none-other-than Jonathan Pryce! Obviously there was more to this scene.

But, long story short, I loved this film. I may even see it again while it is still in thaters.


Paul

[AndyDursin]

Paul,
Great! Just what I wanted to hear I may get out Friday and see it if I can...
I ordered Horner's soundtrack album since apparently it's the score as he composed it (and not how it was used in the movie).

How long was the version they released nationally? In addition the link at the top of this thread, I read a story with Christian Bale that basically went over how he felt about most of his role being axed.

[Eric W.]

This sounds like prime fodder for an expanded DVD release. I don't even want to see this, since it sounds so obviously hackneyed and incomplete.

[AndyDursin]

I'm reading it runs 135 minutes or so...sounds as if Malick tightened it up. I'm assuming that it was done with his blessing, though, since most of the complaints have been that it's too long.

The score is an absolute gem on CD, very serene and relaxing...even some bird noises mixed in on a few tracks! Talk about "pensive" and lovely, the piano comes across as if you're listening to a waterfall. No offense to John Williams and "Geisha" and "Munich" (scores I liked), but, as an album, this is my favorite score of 2005. 80 minutes of pure joy.

I will say that it'd be nice if he restored all of Horner's music to the DVD along with the longer version of the movie itself...but we'll see.

[Eric W.]

I'm reading it runs 135 minutes or so...sounds as if Malick tightened it up. I'm assuming that it was done with his blessing, though, since most of the complaints have been that it's too long.

The score is an absolute gem on CD, very serene and relaxing...even some bird noises mixed in on a few tracks! Talk about "pensive" and lovely, the piano comes across as if you're listening to a waterfall. No offense to John Williams and "Geisha" and "Munich" (scores I liked), but, as an album, this is my favorite score of 2005. 80 minutes of pure joy.

I will say that it'd be nice if he restored all of Horner's music to the DVD along with the longer version of the movie itself...but we'll see.

How much did Horner rip off Braveheart and the Wagner source material, like he did with Bobby Jones? Bobby Jones really had outright shameless note for note riffs from Braveheart.

Please tell me that didn't happen again here, because I've been looking forward to this score, at least.

Maybe this movie will be good...

[AndyDursin]

I'm reading it runs 135 minutes or so...sounds as if Malick tightened it up. I'm assuming that it was done with his blessing, though, since most of the complaints have been that it's too long.

The score is an absolute gem on CD, very serene and relaxing...even some bird noises mixed in on a few tracks! Talk about "pensive" and lovely, the piano comes across as if you're listening to a waterfall. No offense to John Williams and "Geisha" and "Munich" (scores I liked), but, as an album, this is my favorite score of 2005. 80 minutes of pure joy.

I will say that it'd be nice if he restored all of Horner's music to the DVD along with the longer version of the movie itself...but we'll see.

How much did Horner rip off Braveheart and the Wagner source material, like he did with Bobby Jones? Bobby Jones really had outright shameless note for note riffs from Braveheart.

Please tell me that didn't happen again here, because I've been looking forward to this score, at least.

Maybe this movie will be good...

Those pipes are utilized but I didn't think this score sounded much like BRAVEHEART otherwise, the love theme is distinct but very much in the same style (so I would stay away if you're sensitive to such things). Very quiet, introspective, a lot of piano and strings...very restrained for Horner but still lovely. Even the song at the end (which isnt in the movie) is lyrical and mellow, like the whole album.

There's not a whole lot of dense, Wagner-esque music on this album so far as I can hear. Why would he need to rip him off if the director didn't like what Horner wrote in the first place? Apparently Malick didn't use most of the music from his score -- and I'm guessing (with an 80 minute album) there's tons of music on CD not in the movie.

[John Johnson]

I'm reading it runs 135 minutes or so...sounds as if Malick tightened it up. I'm assuming that it was done with his blessing, though, since most of the complaints have been that it's too long.

The score is an absolute gem on CD, very serene and relaxing...even some bird noises mixed in on a few tracks! Talk about "pensive" and lovely, the piano comes across as if you're listening to a waterfall. No offense to John Williams and "Geisha" and "Munich" (scores I liked), but, as an album, this is my favorite score of 2005. 80 minutes of pure joy.

I will say that it'd be nice if he restored all of Horner's music to the DVD along with the longer version of the movie itself...but we'll see.

Andy,
There was an article about the movie in the Chicago Sun-Times last week. One of the producers was quoted as saying that a three hour version would be released on DVD, reinstating alot of cut scenes, including those with Christopher Plummer. I can't comment on how much (or little) his character is in the film at the moment as I haven't seen it.

[AndyDursin]

I'm reading it runs 135 minutes or so...sounds as if Malick tightened it up. I'm assuming that it was done with his blessing, though, since most of the complaints have been that it's too long.

The score is an absolute gem on CD, very serene and relaxing...even some bird noises mixed in on a few tracks! Talk about "pensive" and lovely, the piano comes across as if you're listening to a waterfall. No offense to John Williams and "Geisha" and "Munich" (scores I liked), but, as an album, this is my favorite score of 2005. 80 minutes of pure joy.

I will say that it'd be nice if he restored all of Horner's music to the DVD along with the longer version of the movie itself...but we'll see.

Andy,
There was an article about the movie in the Chicago Sun-Times last week. One of the producers was quoted as saying that a three hour version would be released on DVD, reinstating alot of cut scenes, including those with Christopher Plummer. I can't comment on how much (or little) his character is in the film at the moment as I haven't seen it.

Thanks John, that's good news. Do you have the link to the story?

[Paul MacLean]

Those pipes are utilized but I didn't think this score sounded much like BRAVEHEART otherwise

Well in the film itself, there were no pipes. Horner did use a "kena", which is the primitive flute heard in Braveheart's love theme. Actually the kena is a Native American flute (from South America I believe) so it technically suits New World better than it does Braveheart!

There is a brief cue which does sound like Braveheart's main title (sans the uileann pipes) and melodically and texturally the score has passages which recall Briaveheart's love theme (particularly when he uses the kena). But its hardly a "recycling" job in my estimation.

There's not a whole lot of dense, Wagner-esque music on this album so far as I can hear. Why would he need to rip him off if the director didn't like what Horner wrote in the first place? Apparently Malick didn't use most of the music from his score -- and I'm guessing (with an 80 minute album) there's tons of music on CD not in the movie.

Yeah, the Wagner music in the film was actually Wagner, not Horner's version of Wagner. (i.e. unlike his use of Khatchaturian in Aliens). And Horner's score is totally UN-Wgner like. Rather it has a decidedly "Americana" bent at times.

Anyone who has yet to hear the CD can sample the score on the film's website. Click on the "features" and then "The New World Music" link, to access Horner's score:

http://www.thenewworldmovie.com/

And having heard the music Horner wrote for the finale of the film, I must say it is infinitely more appropriate than Das Rhinegold! It is more emmotional, mystical and *sensual* and really captures Pocahontas' character and the imagery of the finale. The Wagner is too static, and more to the point wasn't written and tailored to the film. I'd love it if the DVD had Horner's music restored for this scene.

Its a great score. And hey, at least Horner didn't use a daduk! And the solo vocals have a more pure sound and eschew the rhaspy "Lisa Gerrard" cliche which pervades every othe score these days (even Episode III!).




Paul