2017 SXSW Film Festival: Malick's Latest Song to Song Crash Lands

Terrence Malick hasn't made a great movie, and by great movie, I mean one with at least a semi-coherent plot line, since 1998's The Thin Red Line. The Tree of Life was visually stunning, and showed a master exploring new dimensions. But, seriously, his 21st Century offerings, including last year's awful Knight of Cups, have proven to be misguided, meandering, and simply bad, including To the Wonder (does anybody remember that movie, I had to look up the title), The New World, and now you can add Song to Song to the list. Malick's latest opened the SXSW film festival this year, and it seemed like a perfect fit because the film's plot is set in the Austin music scene. Unfortunately, despite an excellent cast that includes Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, and Cate Blanchett, it looks like Song to Song is yet another Malick misfire. The reviews haven't all been bad, as the Malick-ites have labeled it as another masterpiece. But overall, the reviews have been pretty poor, considering that film critics used to swoon over anything Malick made. It has been called meandering, shallow, and Malick losing his vision. While I'm sure it will find an audience of folks who are willing to tackle Malick, no matter what, but in the end, this potential Oscar contender and year end's best, looks like it is going to be none of the above.