KNIGHT OF CUPS – The Review

KNIGHT OF CUPS isn’t a reference to that grey knight in the cave in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Though I bet there’s a great backstory to that old guy. In fact, the title refers to the tarot card which often signifies someone who is a bringer of ideas but is also constantly bored and in need of stimulation. It doesn’t take long to see why Terrence Malick has named his newest film this, and that sentiment extends past just the main character. Even fans of the director might feel the acclaimed and talented director slipping from his position as King of Wands  – a mature man who is decisive and passionate.

Usually, Malick has always balanced his stories with the visuals. They worked alongside one another – enhancing one another and adding extra layers of complexity. Through spectacular landscapes and spotlighting the mundane, Malick has explored the overwhelming beauty of life, if we only just stop to look at. And in contrast with these small wonders of the world, he shows characters dealing with the fragility of life. In THE THIN RED LINE, you have soldiers facing possible death and their own destructive mission. In THE NEW WORLD, you have an entire civilization on the brink of elimination from English settlers. In BADLANDS, you have two killers dealing with the morality of their own actions while heading down an uncertain path.

THE TREE OF LIFE explored these same existential dilemmas. However, Malick didn’t just narrow his focus on one family and their internal joys and woes. He looked at all of existence. He examined the weight of the world that rests on us all, whether we are aware of it or not. He seemingly shows through his “birth of the universe” sequence that this weight stems from our history; the history of our fathers; the history of our culture; the history of the planet’s evolutionary cycle.

It seems that TREE OF LIFE reinvigorated the director, for better or for worse. Malick has taken the success of that film and has abandoned his usual cycle of about one film every decade and has pumped out two films (and possibly another right around the corner) in five year’s time. That being said, both the films that have followed have tried to capture the magic of TREE while missing the point of that film. It wasn’t just the visuals that caused many critics (this one included) to praise the film as one of the best of 2011. It was the balance of the emotional story and the visuals that made his earlier work so successful. TO THE WONDER and KNIGHT OF CUPS have forgotten one-half of this winning equation.

The life of a Hollywood screenwriter is more luxurious than I ever imagined. Well, at least according to KNIGHT OF CUPS. Christian Bale’s character of Rick shuffles through this glittery and glamorous world of models, parties, mansions, and strip clubs all without a care in the – actually, he has all the the cares and inner turmoil in the world. Never once do we see him sitting at a desk actually writing or exploring his craft (even a few scenes of him on a soundstage never really amount to much). He lives only in the superficial dream world of LA. Characters float through his life in almost as dizzying of a fashion as “artistic images” are shoehorned in. The most egregious are the scenes of him wandering on a beach.

It’s almost ironic that Malick – an artist in every sense of the word – centers his story around someone who works in the arts and yet chooses not to dive into what it means to be one. Christian Bale does his best acting stoned and spouting a cryptic voice-over. He commits to it, projecting a character who questions his lifestyle. However, it’s hard to sympathize with someone struggling with the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

There’s an internet video that made the rounds a couple years back called “Drinking Out of Cups.” Aside from the similarities in the name, both feature half-baked ramblings that grasp at ideas and characters and locations in an attempt to reach something sublime. However, the main difference between KNIGHT OF CUPS and “Drinking Out of Cups” is that the latter was apparently a recording of a man talking under the influence of a hallucinogen while flipping through channels – this KNIGHT might have benefitted from sitting at the same table as the village idiot if only for the fact that it wouldn’t treat itself so seriously. Malick has presented us with something so profoundly empty twice in a row now, that I’m starting to question what the cards say about his future.

OVERALL RATING: 2 out of 5

KNIGHT OF CUPS is now playing in limited release