KNIGHT OF CUPS

Not My Cuppa…

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

Knight of Cups follows writer Rick (Christian Bale, The Fighter, American Hustle) on an odyssey through the playgrounds of Los Angeles and Las Vegas as he undertakes a search for love and self. Even as he moves through a desire-laden landscape of mansions, resorts, beaches and clubs, Rick grapples over complicated relationships with his brother (Wes Bentley) and father (Brian Dennehy). His quest to break the spell of his disenchantment takes him on a series of adventures with six alluring women… – Broad Green Pictures

Some reviews say the main character, Rick’s (Bale) profession in the movie is an actor, others say a writer; it’s obvious the guy is part of the entertainment industry, but I got the impression he was more like a producer or someone on the business end. Bale certainly does look good in expensive suits. He wears them like a second skin, so natural for a guy you’d think would be more comfortable in jeans. At any rate, you have no trouble deciphering the fact that Rick is melancholy, dissatisfied with life and suffering with ennui. The beautiful women coming in and out of his life, played by a smokey eyed Imogen Poots, a sultry Freida Pinto; a exuberant Teresa Palmer, a wistful Cate Blanchett and a torn Natalie Portman, only lift his mood for short periods of time, before he falls back into self-contemplation.

Filmmakers, like Terrence Malick, who have achieved the title auteur, are either highly lauded or cruelly disparaged. It’s often the same critics that praise a Malick for their visually, non-linear, deeply contemplative masterpiece one moment, who turn around and decide the filmmaker’s next seemingly similar type offering is self-indulgent and unbearable…

With cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (who just copped his third straight Oscar, for “The Revenant”), Malick makes those desert stones and ocean waves seem essential, and finds beauty in the rooftops of Los Angeles at twilight. There are heart-stopping details, like the glimpse of sand in Natalie Portman’s hair after one of the beach dunkings.
But the more it goes on, the more “Knight of Cups” flounders. Actors look like they’re trying to make something happen, to the extent that we are allowed to watch them work. Robert Horton Hearld.net

Malick’s latest movie is another self-indulgent, tedious bore that has been described as “intensely personal”, based on his memories of love and family. That’s great for you, Terrence, but I would harbor a guess that most people who see your movie couldn’t care less. If anyone could bottle “Knight of Cups” into pill form for insomniacs, they would make a fortune. Jeanne Kaplan Kaplan vs Kaplan

With “Knight of Cups,” the visionary filmmaker Terrence Malick continues the strange, perverse process of simultaneously refining and diminishing his vision. He seems to be working ever closer to some kind of ur-movie in his head — the film he has always wanted to see and maybe even be. But he’s also in danger of working his way down to an audience of one. Ty Burr The Boston Globe

Bottom Line: Now and again I like to see films by these supposedly genius filmmakers, stuff with very little narrative and a lot of symbolism and water, just to see if I can appreciate what’s not being said. So far, I can’t say I do.

T &T’s LAMB Score: 2 outta 5