I distinctly remember when this movie came out there were actual promo materials with Rooney Mara insisting that “This movie is very different than Badlands.” No one else seems to remember this, but I could never forget it cause it was the weirdest promo material I’ve ever seen for a movie.
Anyways yeah, this isn’t Badlands, but obviously Malick influenced. It’s going for his impressionistic approach but in a monotone way.
Poor John Huston. This is the 2nd time he made a perfectly adequate movie only to get his doors blown off by Stanley Kubrick a short time later with a similar movie. First was with Blackboard Jungle and Kubrick’s The Killing. Now this with Kubrick’s Path of Glory.
Wow, I read somewhere that this was the 70s version of 500 Days of Summer, and yeah that’s precisely what this is. Although having the benefit of being written and directed by a woman, there’s far bigger microscope on the male leads dickishness.
