Days of Heaven [HD]

Terrence Malick's Masterpiece About How Human Nature Consumes Our Rationality Gets The Criterion Treatment
MOVIE:
Terrence Malick is one of the greatest filmmakers alive, and after Sergio Leone he is my second favorite director of all time. In his career that spans almost 40 years he has only made four feature length films. What I love about Malick's films is that they are poetry; they break all the conventions of filmmaking. When you sit down to watch a Terrence Malick film you are readying yourself for an experience. The way he examines human nature in every single one of his films is extraordinary. Every one of his films also deals with man's impact on nature and he slowly erases the lines between sanity and insanity. His directorial debut was with Badlands starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek; a haunting story of lovers on the run from the law. His next film is still undoubtedly one of the most moving pieces of cinema ever created, Days Of Heaven.

Days Of Heaven tells the story of Bill (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams); two young people in love trying to make...

Heartbreaking - the most beautifully shot film of all time
How fitting it is that the best movie Richard Gere has ever done, and will ever do, is the one where he probably talks the least. Of course, dialogue isn't what's so breathtakingly beautiful about Days of Heaven, one of the forgotten greats of all time. It's the cinematography (maybe the best of all time, sorry I left this off my list, folks), the sad story that runs through the film, and the overwhelmingly aching tone that just resonates from every frame. Days of Heaven is a quiet, meditative film that flies under the radar in emotion and volume for most of the time. The film roams over the open fields of its locale, half-listening to conversations (even important ones) as maybe the watchful eye of God. I saw this movie once before and bought it on a whim, and am convinced more than ever that most great movies don't reveal themselves totally on the first, or even second time. On viewing #2, I can't get Days of Heaven out of my mind. It's a beautiful, sad little tone poem that...

Malick finally joins the Criterion Collection!
A few years ago Paramount Pictures unceremoniously dumped Days of Heaven on DVD with a decent transfer and no extras save a theatrical trailer. While the folks at Criterion haven't quite given it their deluxe treatment, they have provided a brand new, Terrence Malick-approved transfer that is a revelation and a few, yet substantial extras.

While it was too much to hope for a commentary by the media-shy Malick, Criterion has provided us with the next best thing: a commentary by art director Jack Fisk, editor Billy Weber (both men have worked on all of Malick's films), costume designer Patricia Norris and casting director Dianne Crittenden. Weber talks about Linda Manz's inexperience as an actress and how she kept referring to Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard by their real names. Fisk talks about the challenges of constructing sets with very little preparation time. They all talk about Malick's...

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