10 Overly Pretentious Movies We Should've Walked Out Of
10. To The Wonder
Let's face facts love him or hate him, few directors in the history of American cinema have so regularly had their work described as pretentious. Ever since he stepped out of the movie making wilderness and headed into the wilderness to make The Thin Red Line, his movies have divided audiences, with one camp considering them to be beautifully realised cinepoems and another describing them as self-indulgent nonsense. Admittedly there's some nuance in between, but as a broad generalisation it sums up Terrence Malick's fans and detractors neatly. When it came to watching To The Wonder, even long-term fans found themselves scratching their heads and wondering just how far beyond comprehensibility the great director had gone. Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko wander aimlessly around Paris; she frequently spins and looks whimsical, he looks on with an unreadable expression. The action relocated to America where the cast joined by Rachel McAdams glide their hands over corn fields and spin some more. While Malick is often rightly commended for discarding narrative conventions in favour of expressionistic imagery where tone is paramount, To The Wonder lacks the metaphysical texture of his earlier works. Sure, it looks fantastic, but you can't help but get the impression that Malick is treading old ground, while Affleck looks on from the sideline, bemusement paving the way for sheer bafflement.
