Song to Song

Broad Green Pictures | Release Date: March 17, 2017

6.0	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 68 Ratings

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SpangleApr 6, 2017

A dream-like kaleidoscopic descent into the madness of Austin, Texas, and the relationships on display in the film, Song to Song feels akin to a short film from Stan Brakhage or Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. Echoes of Jean-LucA dream-like kaleidoscopic descent into the madness of Austin, Texas, and the relationships on display in the film, Song to Song feels akin to a short film from Stan Brakhage or Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. Echoes of Jean-Luc Godard at his most experimental can also be heard with Malick standing alongside Godard as both extend a middle finger to audiences that wish to receive a normal viewing experience. With a loose connection of images and a free-wheeling approach to scenes and cutting, Song to Song is most certainly lyrical and poetic, but it mostly feels hollow. Its themes are compelling, but haphazardly composed and never rise to the level of importance bestowed upon them by the distant and experimental nature of the film. As a result, it is a hell of a tough watch and not the easiest 129 minutes of filmgoing I have ever experienced. With loose connections to be drawn between scenes, there is a common thread, but there is so much fluff and excess surrounding it, that core seems to get lost in the shuffle.

A deeply spiritual filmmaker by nature, Malick infuses Song to Song with a lot of overt references to God, human nature, and sin. Juxtaposing scenes of Cook (Michael Fassbender) and Rhonda (Natalie Portman) engaging in a three-way with a prostitute with that very same prostitute telling Rhonda that she wants God to come save her, it is clear that there is a deeply religious film. It is through this context that the film's core themes reveal themselves: temptation, love, and experience. Explaining in a voice-over early on that she wishes to experience everything, Faye (Rooney Mara) does just that. She has a highly conventional relationship with BV (Ryan Gosling), a solely physical affair with Cook, and even a few lesbian encounters. Yet, none of these fulfill her. As her initial voice-over noted, she needed every experience to be above and beyond its normal level for her to actual feel it ("the sex needed to be violent"), or else the moment would drift away and she would float on to the next one.

Yet, by the end, she has come back. She gives into temptation with Cook, but comes back to BV at the end and is willing to toss away experiencing life in Austin and replace it with living life with BV in small town America. Faye's journey in this film is one played out in real life and film many times before, though not nearly as dressed up as in Song to Song. She is a girl who is unhappy with herself, as shown in her conversations with her father, and is unsure of what she wants. As a result, she tries everything. She never says no, even when she is hesitant or unsure and regardless of who can be hurt by her actions. Instead, she flies by the seat of her pants and dives head first into the pool of life. Unfortunately for she realizes nearly too late that what truly made her happy and feel in touch with the world was what she had initially and now, she must find her way back to that life and that experience by returning to BV. Considering how dense the film itself is, for it to be able to be boiled down - mostly - into just that description really speaks as to how fluff-filled Song to Song is at 129 minutes.

Malick does add depth, however, with that aforementioned religious parallels. For the film, the character of Cook often comes to represent temptation and could be described as being Satan-esque, if not Satan himself. Presenting temptation to everybody in the film, he drives them all of their pre-ordained paths by offering them a world of experience. For Faye, he promises sexual pleasure that she had never before felt with Cook being adventurous and a generous lover. For BV, he promises to help him make a record deal that would allow him to have the world (classic Lucifer stuff here). For Rhonda, he promises an escape from her job as a waitress and to experience a world she had never been in before. Yet, it all backfires. Faye continues to jump from experience-to-experience and hits bottom when she realizes her father is disappointed in her. BV continues to struggle as a musician and realizes that Cook filed copyrights for BV's songs under Cook's name only, essentially stealing his work. Rhonda is driven into depression and driven away from her mother Miranda (Holly Hunter) to the point that she is suicidal. Promising the world to all that he encounters, Cook frequently engages in sexual sins with three-ways and intense promiscuity while corrupting everybody he touches and dragging them down in hellfire along with himself. As Rhonda notes in a voice-over, he is a destructive force. Yet, Cook embraces his tempting ways, explaining that "people want to be deceived". In essence, he is merely giving people what they want, so what is wrong with that? He is a selfish and harmful being, whether or not he is actually Satan. He is a man that seeks to drive people off the path with empty promises with the sole goal of fulfilling his own needs and sucking the life out of their soul.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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MattBrady99Jul 15, 2017

"The world wants to be deceived"

Song to Song is not really a movie, but more of an experience. The feeling of adventure and freedom like in most Malick movies. Something I felt was missing from "Knights of Cups". While still not having a"The world wants to be deceived"

Song to Song is not really a movie, but more of an experience. The feeling of adventure and freedom like in most Malick movies. Something I felt was missing from "Knights of Cups". While still not having a straight forward narrative that audience members are gonna hate, just like how Malick isn't for everyone.

The film captures life of are characters daily activities, shot a very long time ago.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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