Michael Nordine on Terrence Malick's Twenty Year Absence

Days of Heaven, Malick's last film before his twenty-year "absence" began

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Review published a piece on Terrence Malick that's informative and timely, though it doesn't really cover new ground. A lot of what Michael Nordine reports has been written about elsewhere, but it's good to have a refresher. He also makes some good comments concerning our perception of Malick as a recluse, one of those being:

Now more than ever, it seems we still can’t conceive of a famous person who doesn't want to be famous, and even caricatures are more satisfying than a note reading “not pictured” in the celebrity yearbook.

Also of note is something he says near the piece's conclusion:

Considering [Malick's] characteristically slow pace, ornithological/celestial preoccupations, and the fact that he combines an auteur’s sensibility with the resources of major studios (the three films preceding To the Wonder cost between $30–$50 million each), the real marvel here may not be that it took him so long to “return” to filmmaking — it’s that he’s made as many movies as he has.

Anyway, for Malick fans of all sorts, it's worth a read.