To The Wonder: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Neil (Ben Affleck) is an American traveling in Europe who meets and falls in love with Marina (Olga Kurylenko), an Ukrainian divorcée who is raising her 10-year-old daughter Tatiana in Paris. The lovers travel to Mont St. Michel, the island abbey off the coast of Normandy, basking in the wonder of their newfound romance. Neil makes a commitment to Marina, inviting her to relocate to his native Oklahoma with Tatiana. He takes a job as an environmental inspector and Marina settles into her new life in America with passion and vigor. After a holding pattern, their relationship cools. Marina finds solace in the company of another exile, the Catholic priest Father Quintana (Javier Bardem), who is undergoing a crisis of faith. Work pressures and increasing doubt pull Neil further apart from Marina, who returns to France with Tatiana when her visa expires. Neil reconnects with Jane (Rachel McAdams), an old flame. They fall in love until Neil learns that Marina has fallen on hard times
Terrence Malick created a film that shows the sadness and reality of relationships but he somehow makes it look so beautiful. The cinematography is so fantastic and is very reminiscent of his previous film The Tree Of Life. The angles and locations in the film are sheer perfection and it almost makes you feel like the entire feature is a moving painting. There is a particular moment when the main characters are on a beach in France during the winter months and you see sand create miniature hills and valleys with the water creeping through it as the tide comes in. That right there was a gorgeous sight to see and makes me almost want to tell Malick “Thank You” for such a wonderful shot. Throughout the film there wasn’t an extreme amount of dialogue but that’s what made some of the scenes so powerful. The emotion in the faces and subtle movements of Affleck and Kurylenko really spoke for themselves and conveyed so much with so little. There are some that will not entirely get the film because of its artistic approach but if you are a person that can truly appreciate film and it’s unique way of storytelling at times then you’re are going to love this film. This isn’t a simple movie that gives you a beginning, middle and end. It’s an experience that is there for you to take in and soak up. The world isn’t full of “Happily Ever Afters” and this film is the perfect example of that. A must see!
Special Features:
The Making Of To The Wonder – A 10 minute feature that goes through some of the experiences from the cast on how the film came about.
The Actors’ Experience – The cast explains how it was to work with Terrance Malick and what kind of process it was for them to understand their characters.
The Ballet – Cast and crew talk about how Malick’s filming style is and how unique it is compared to other directors.
Local Flavor – This feature shows how they got local people to be in the film to get a lot more realism for the film.
