Days of Heaven by Ryan Haberman

Title/Year: Days of Heaven (1978)
Director/Birth Country/Year Born : Terrence Malick, United States, 1943
Budget: $3,000,000 (est)
Gross: $3,446,749
Synopsis: In the early 1900’s, Bill and Abby, a poor couple, seek out a harvesting job for a wealthy farmer in Texas. When they learn that the farmer is sick and dying, Bill insists that Abby try to falsely marry the dying farmer in an attempt to gain that fortune. But this soon causes trouble and some uncomfortable situations.
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Complicated Romance, Drama, survival, poverty, period piece, love-triangle, jealousy, love, story told from a narrator.
Characterization/ Dialogue: Narration: long pauses, short sentences, gentle, romantic.
Camera/lighting/editing technique: Very stylized camera work, lots of backed off shots to show landscape, mostly twilight lighting, natural lighting, some indoor lighting, lanterns, editing involves a lot of long drawn out shots, cameras on jibs and such.
 Political/ Social Commentary: America’s drive for personal gain in the early 19^th Century
Historical Relevance/ Recognition: In 2007, Days of Heaven was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Notable Collaboration:
Random fact, Etc.: Shot almost entirely at "magic hour," the hours between day and night early in the morning and late in the evening. Malick wanted to have a white sky and no sight of the sun.

1.       I think what it was, was that Badlands at the time, was just so artistically rich. It was the last feature film to be presented at the 11^th New York Film Festival, and people really liked it and found it to be provocative. It had some great performances from the actors that brought Terrence Malick’s vision to life. The story is very different, but also really engaging and entertaining at the same time.

2.       Like all Terrence Malick movies, the history is well researched and very accurate. There are a lot of long continuous scenes, which Malick continues to use later on in other movies. There is also a lot of beautiful scenery and cinematography, which is also a common Malick trait. As for content, Badlands and Days of Heaven both involve a couple who has gotten themselves into a shenanigan of some sort, and they both end with a tragedy. I have also noticed that Malick uses narration in all the movies I’ve seen. It is usually a younger woman, except for The Thin Red Line.

3.       There is a lot of argument about how valid Terrence Malicks visions really are that I’ve read about. A common theme is his works is that his films are very poetic and often about relationships.

Sources:

Canby, Vincent. “Badlands”. New York Times, October 15, 1973. Web. 16 January, 2012.

Critchley, Simon, “Calm On Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line”, Film-Philosophy, vol. 6 no. 48, December 2002. http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol6-2002/n48critchley.

Mellen, Joan, “Spiraling Downward: America In “Days Of Heaven”, Joan Mellen. http://www.joanmellen.net/Spiraling_Downward.html, This essay appeared in a slightly different version in “FILM QUARTERLY, Vol. 61, No. 3 (SPRING 2008). University of California Press.

Days of Heaven, 2012. Web. 16^th January, 2012. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077405/

Days of Heaven, Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 January, 2012. Web. 16 January 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven