Knight of Cups (15) ****
After the online debate as to whether Beyonce’s
“Lemonade” promo owes a stylistic debt to wisened white dude Terrence Malick,
here’s the real thing: two hours of classical allusions, breathy narration
(“Desire is so deep”) and pristine images, underpinned by a nagging unease at
the ways of the universe. Upfront, Christian Bale’s Rick follows in the heavy,
soul-sick footprints of The Tree of Life’s
Sean Penn and To the Wonder’s Ben
Affleck, striving to escape tangled family relations via encounters with a
succession of airy-fairy L.A. women (Cate Blanchett, Freida Pinto, Natalie
Portman).
As ever, the styling runs perilously close to
perfume-ad territory – pushing Ennui, for a man or a woman – yet the director’s
found an all-seeing soulmate in genius cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, The Revenant). Unleashed
on Tinseltown’s dazzling light and twisted architecture, his relentlessly
questing camera exudes a rare fascination with everything from pelicans to
supermodels. You’ll emerge admiring Malick’s continued commitment to moods and
emotions, or convinced you’ve undergone the prettiest midlife crisis in
Christendom. Either way, while you’re in the moment with it, Knight of Cups is a mesmerising thing to
behold.
Knight of Cups opens in selected cinemas from tomorrow.
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