Rating: Summary: A STUDY ABOUT THE GREED, LOVE AND ENVY OF THE HUMAN BEINGS. Review: *** ½ stars rating for this film. "Days Of Heaven" is a drama set in the early years of the 20th century, starring are a very young Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard & Linda Manz. The movie was carefully directed by Terrence Malick. The most heralded part of this movie is the cinematography, which presents wide fields, farms and landscapes, besides a good costume work and good music.The plot of this movie becomes more and more interesting gradually. The movie basically is a tale about the greed and ambition of the human being and all the tricks and misdemeanors that the people can do in order to get money and properties. Also in the game appear feelings like love and hate, and the envy. "Days Of Heaven" is an interesting movie.
Rating: Summary: As Silent films where. Review: Elegant, and exuberant images, combine with the right music produces the real cinematograhic result, which is what this film is about. Nestor Almendros does (as always), a lightnig that is both exquisit and smooth,he won the Academi Award for this picture. Terrence Malick directs this piece with a tremendous undertandig of that very simple but very beautiful story (1978 winner Cannes Film festival, best director). Days of Heaven has the tradition of the very first silent pictures, the music carries the emotional line of the story, with images so beautiful and dream like, that resembles every ones ideal first kiss. This DVD edition captures the beauty of the film with it's fine transfer, but, nevertheless, the studios have the capasity to make better works in transfering such presious materials. Details and sound in this case demands a much profund atention, so they can deliver versions worth of the quality of this kind of pictures, and Days of Heaven is a little jewel that deserves the real treatment.
Rating: Summary: The most beautiful film I have ever seen. Review: The story is not done in a dramatic style, but is viewed from a distance, with an atmosphere of realism, regardless of what real life actually is. But the real great thing about the movie is imagery - there is no comparison as far as sheer visual beauty. Unfortunately, the imagery cost the movie bigtime. A lot of the effect came from shooting the film at only certain hours of the day, and if you can only film for a few hours a day the bill for keeping up the production crews, cast, and rent mount up high. This movie was unable to recoup it's immense cost, which is why Malick made no more movies for a long time, and part of why these kind of movies will not be made often. So enjoy this gem!
Rating: Summary: Lead me on, Mr. Malick, and I will follow you anywhere...... Review: As a senior in highschool, I saw The Thin Red Line and was so captivated by it that I couldn't get it out of my head for a week straight. The more I found out about TTRL, the more I was intrigued by its reclusive director, Terrence Malick. I heard about Days of Heaven through the internet grapevine and finally saw it recently. BELIEVE THE HYPE! This is a visual treat to the greatest extremeties. The musical score - not unlike TTRL - is intoxicating and the acting is superb. You will find more voice overs but that creates a realism that can't be strewn together otherwise. I believe this was one of Richard Gere's first films, if not THE first, and he does a wonderful job. If nothing else, Malick has an uncanny nack for discovering untapped talent - also see Adrian Brody, Jim Caviezel, and John C. Reily from The Thin Red Line. Sam Shepard also delivers a very solid performance. The plot is better than amazon makes it out to be and there is a hang-onto-the-edge-of-your-seat-through-the-woods-chase-scene(sorry, I just had to) just like there was in TTRL. This tale deals with three American nomads and their quest of capturing the American dream, even if it means bringing tragedy with them wherever they go. Now I can't wait to see what Malick will deliver next. Please don't wait another twenty year, Terrence!!
Rating: Summary: Mixed reactions Review: The photography in this film is truly remarkable. Rich, vivid, bold and immensely beautiful. It is the movie's main attraction, and it almost takes on a role of a protagonist. Especially since there is so little else in the film to comprise any substance. Conceived as a sweeping epic, it plays like a TV-movie, and, ultimately, leaves one feeling unsated. Centered around a watered-down semi-love semi-triangle, the storyline develops at an uneven pace with one fragmentary scene succeeding another. Characters wander about, evidently propelled by something substantial and meaningful, but the significance never really surfaces or even comes up for air. The film progresses in gasps and winds up at an ending that had been foreshadowed long before. Richard Gere's and Sam Shepard's youthful looks are delightful (handsome people are enjoyable to watch, after all), while Brooke Adams is rather bleak for the role and the weight it carries. Linda Manz as the little sister is very interesting. Overall, I don't feel that the film offers anything fresh, novel, or even mildly exciting other than its visuals. Unlike nature itself, which is often captured here in close-up and/or wide angle, the human characters seem approached with a long lens. There's evidence of something brooding and bubbling under their surfaces but it never moves beyond vague and generalized. To reiterate, however, in terms of photography itself, there're only a handful of other movies out there that are this stunning.
Rating: Summary: Stunning and mesmerizing glimpse into very private territory Review: The director, Terrence Malick, has made few films but his stature is legendary among film buffs and industry players (for different reasons). This film, which he wrote and which is possibly his best, is one reason why so many admire Malick. Winner of a well-deserved Academy Award for Cinematography by the late, great Director of Photography Nestor Almendros (who wrote a wonderful book about cinematography, by the way, called A MAN WITH A CAMERA), DAYS OF HEAVEN does nothing so well as perfectly evoke a place and time. By the way, a previous reviewer was incorrect -- it was not the Great Depression, but pre-WWI. This is a film that does a lot with a little; and it is so beautiful and so well-told that one could turn the sound off and understand the whole story. Don't you dare, though: the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone and others (Leo Kottke, Doug Kershaw, Camille Saint-Saens...) provides perfect accompaniment to this spare and tragic tale.
Rating: Summary: One Of The Most Beautiful Ever Review: As other reviewers note, this is one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. However, and this is a big however, so much is lost in the standard video format, I can't even watch it, because I know what I am missing, having seen it in a theater. Therefore, this high recommendation applies only to the widescreen, or letterbox edition!
Rating: Summary: a masterpiece Review: I was fortunate enough to see this at a major NYC theater when it was first released. It was and remains the finest movie experience I have ever had. This is as much a visual and also particularly audio experience as it is a telling of a story, and its true form will only come to light in a well endowed home threater, where the audio, particularly the low notes, is adaquate to the task.
Rating: Summary: Beautiful Review: It's beautiful, and I'm not just talking about the visuals. The film does an excellent job of telling a story; story is an element left out of so many box-office smashes today, but it's certainly present in "Days of Heaven." Just as "The Thin Red Line" tells a story before showing a war, "Days" makes the storytelling its main goal. Worth the money.
Rating: Summary: One of the Most Etheral, beautiful American films Review: This is the best version of the currently available, Nestor Almondres,'s cinematogrphic works are always a little grainy. The Print is reasonably clean with a few dots and scratches here and there, but mostly the beauty comes out well. Just one thing the Golden Colours are a bit more subdued than they are at the Theatrical showings of this particular film....
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