Such an amazing work of art is "Days of Heaven." You get the visual beauty of the earth and the narration of the lovely Linda Manz. This film, visually speaking, changed the way I look at the world.
Terrence Mallick makes Ridley Scott seem like a maker of cartoons. And loving Bladerunner that's really something. The movie is among the 5 most beautiful gorgeous of all time in my opinion. It's like a moving work of art...a masterpiece.
After seeing this today, I think Abby became torn between Bill and Chuck, and took all the blame on herself ultimately. And both men were ultimately taken from her.Bill(Gere) was the schemer and plotter.
@dorman76 That is actually not true. Wexler shot about 2 o 3 secuences of it, including one very good with the miners, but he himself declared in the documentary Visions of Light, that he tried strongly to maintain Nestor Almendros style, not using any artificial source of lighting, because he considered Nestor the master and was fearfull of ruining his movie.
On the Criterion blu-ray, Wexler states the amount of footage he believes was "his" that actually appeared in the film. This is not to take anything away from the genius of Nestor's work, but you cannot credit him solely for this film. Wexler worked very diligently to emulate Nestor's style (and he was even regretful that he had to use a diffuser in one of the factory scenes) but the fact remains that two very different artists contributed to the singular look of this film.
the bottom line is, despite how long Nestor worked on this film, Malick ended up discarding a majority of his footage and going with the work Wexler shot toward the end of the lengthy shooting schedule. Not because it was better material but because the unorthodox Malick was still "finding" the movie he was trying to make.
@dorman76 That is actually very sad...It is hard to know where is the truth. But again it is Nestor philosophy, Nestor point of view, the way he conceived film lighting. I can imagine it was very painful for him to be so sick, that he had to be away from the set.
@dharmaista I believe he ultimately had to leave the production of "Days of Heaven" because of a commitment he made to shoot Truffaut's "The Man Who Loved Women" in France. No one expected the shoot to run over so long. Malick had other difficulties with his next cinematographer (nearly twenty-years later) making the vastly underrated "The Thin Red Line". Nick Nolte (who was brilliant in the film) told Charlie Rose in an interview that director of photography John Toll and several...
@dharmaista ...of the editors had to basically stage an intervention to get Malick to quit changing the final cut of the film. Despite Malick's lack of presence in the public eye or the media in general, he knows the Hollywood system very well and knows how to work things to his advantage. The results of this manipulation (if you want to call it that) are usually quite stunning to behold. I believe Toll's work on "The Thin Red Line" is some of the most beautiful cinematography...
@dorman76 Wow, how beautiful to know all this. I thought Nestor left the set because of being sick, I dont know exactly now why I had this wrong impression. i love Malick's work and even more his interestiing isolated life. He is also a very special man. I agree The thing red line has an amazing photography...although for me Days of Heaven is like a miracle. Thanks so much for all the info, I'm fascinated reading you.
@dharmaista I interviewed him for a story in Film Comment about a month before he died. He had been working on a documentary about Cuban political prisoners based on a book entitled "Nobody Listened." He shot propaganda footage of Franco back in the day and cut his teeth shooting for the government and then turned his work into a poticila statement decades later. He was a brilliant, sensitive, generous and highly intelligent filmmaker.
@clhopkinspan I also spent several evenings with Terrence Malick and his wife when I was in college and he was visiting a poet who was amutual friend. Malick was fascinating and lovely. But observant and focussed like a laser on every detail of those evenings. I was forbidden to talk about his films before we met. It was hard for me to talk of other things, but the conversation focussed mainly on Paris and French writers, since his lovely wife was French.
@clhopkinspan I'm Cuban and a film director, and Nestor Almendros really makes me proud. Nobody listened to him, not even now. He wanted to capture natural light the purest way, without faking it at all, and it just spiritually touching the images he achieved.
@dharmaista I agree. He worked magic and sadly lived too short a life. I wish you success in your career and it makes me feel good to know that filmmakers today still recognize his enormous contribution to the art form.
@clhopkinspan Yes, I read about this somewhere, about the Cuban documentary, and also impressed me, his humanitarian political side. He loved Cuba, but left very dissapointed of communism. He was a very sensitive man, very ahead of his time, very intuitive mind. It is so sad he died so young, so sad. I miss more of his work.
@dharmaista This is arguably one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed. Almedros' construction of the scenes were completely haunting and miraculous. The way the prairie transforms from heaven into hell. Just.... wonderful.
@dharmaista Almedros was 61. This is not old , but also not young. I saw him working with Rohmer in 1975. He had strong glasses and i was astonished that someone with such eyes can make such a good camera. And he was always very friendly and relaxed. In this time I did not know that he had also cuban roots. Anyway, some of the best camera operators we had in the last century. I agree!
gracias ennio por tanta grandeza.
emachuyyy 2 months ago
Saw this movie in Memphis on the big screen when it first came out. Loved it that day, and still do. One of my all time favorites!
larryjayhawk 6 months ago
Such an amazing work of art is "Days of Heaven." You get the visual beauty of the earth and the narration of the lovely Linda Manz. This film, visually speaking, changed the way I look at the world.
Guigley 8 months ago 3
This is my favourite Morricone soundtrack.
thejobloshow 10 months ago 3
@thejobloshow this is good but i think the soundtrack for once upon a time in the west is much better.
bradshawvincent 9 months ago 3
it's scary how unknown this masterpiece still remains.
Fjord76 11 months ago 5
"... nosin' around like a pig in a guttah' " My favorite line in this beautiful movie.
nauort23 11 months ago 3
Haskell Wexler has said over half the footage is his.
GhostSnake 11 months ago 3
Comment removed
unuevorizonte 1 year ago
Terrence Mallick makes Ridley Scott seem like a maker of cartoons. And loving Bladerunner that's really something. The movie is among the 5 most beautiful gorgeous of all time in my opinion. It's like a moving work of art...a masterpiece.
Bebewhite88 1 year ago
After seeing this today, I think Abby became torn between Bill and Chuck, and took all the blame on herself ultimately. And both men were ultimately taken from her.Bill(Gere) was the schemer and plotter.
janny108 1 year ago
and let us not forget that this is at the end A Terrance Malivk film , no matter who was the cinmatographer
fizerplizer 1 year ago
Is a shame that the cinematographer of this movie died so young. He was a genious, just like Morricone. Let his name be remembered: Nestor Almendros.
dharmaista 2 years ago 37
Let us not forget that more than half of the film was shot by his replacement, Haskell Wexler.
dorman76 2 years ago
@dorman76
I read Wexler only worked on the film for 3 weeks.
0FindGlory 1 year ago
@0FindGlory
more than half of what appears on screen in the actual film was shot by Wexler.
dorman76 1 year ago
@dorman76 That is actually not true. Wexler shot about 2 o 3 secuences of it, including one very good with the miners, but he himself declared in the documentary Visions of Light, that he tried strongly to maintain Nestor Almendros style, not using any artificial source of lighting, because he considered Nestor the master and was fearfull of ruining his movie.
dharmaista 1 year ago
Comment removed
dorman76 1 year ago
@dharmaista
On the Criterion blu-ray, Wexler states the amount of footage he believes was "his" that actually appeared in the film. This is not to take anything away from the genius of Nestor's work, but you cannot credit him solely for this film. Wexler worked very diligently to emulate Nestor's style (and he was even regretful that he had to use a diffuser in one of the factory scenes) but the fact remains that two very different artists contributed to the singular look of this film.
dorman76 1 year ago
@dharmaista
the bottom line is, despite how long Nestor worked on this film, Malick ended up discarding a majority of his footage and going with the work Wexler shot toward the end of the lengthy shooting schedule. Not because it was better material but because the unorthodox Malick was still "finding" the movie he was trying to make.
dorman76 1 year ago
@dorman76 Good to know. I agree with many of your comments. Thanks for the input, really.
vjllopis 1 year ago
@dorman76 That is actually very sad...It is hard to know where is the truth. But again it is Nestor philosophy, Nestor point of view, the way he conceived film lighting. I can imagine it was very painful for him to be so sick, that he had to be away from the set.
dharmaista 1 year ago
@dharmaista I believe he ultimately had to leave the production of "Days of Heaven" because of a commitment he made to shoot Truffaut's "The Man Who Loved Women" in France. No one expected the shoot to run over so long. Malick had other difficulties with his next cinematographer (nearly twenty-years later) making the vastly underrated "The Thin Red Line". Nick Nolte (who was brilliant in the film) told Charlie Rose in an interview that director of photography John Toll and several...
dorman76 1 year ago
@dharmaista ...of the editors had to basically stage an intervention to get Malick to quit changing the final cut of the film. Despite Malick's lack of presence in the public eye or the media in general, he knows the Hollywood system very well and knows how to work things to his advantage. The results of this manipulation (if you want to call it that) are usually quite stunning to behold. I believe Toll's work on "The Thin Red Line" is some of the most beautiful cinematography...
dorman76 1 year ago
@dharmaista ...ever put on film -- but it would be nothing without the unique style of Malick's storytelling behind it.
dorman76 1 year ago
@dorman76 Wow, how beautiful to know all this. I thought Nestor left the set because of being sick, I dont know exactly now why I had this wrong impression. i love Malick's work and even more his interestiing isolated life. He is also a very special man. I agree The thing red line has an amazing photography...although for me Days of Heaven is like a miracle. Thanks so much for all the info, I'm fascinated reading you.
dharmaista 1 year ago
@dharmaista I interviewed him for a story in Film Comment about a month before he died. He had been working on a documentary about Cuban political prisoners based on a book entitled "Nobody Listened." He shot propaganda footage of Franco back in the day and cut his teeth shooting for the government and then turned his work into a poticila statement decades later. He was a brilliant, sensitive, generous and highly intelligent filmmaker.
clhopkinspan 1 year ago
@clhopkinspan I also spent several evenings with Terrence Malick and his wife when I was in college and he was visiting a poet who was amutual friend. Malick was fascinating and lovely. But observant and focussed like a laser on every detail of those evenings. I was forbidden to talk about his films before we met. It was hard for me to talk of other things, but the conversation focussed mainly on Paris and French writers, since his lovely wife was French.
clhopkinspan 1 year ago
@clhopkinspan I'm Cuban and a film director, and Nestor Almendros really makes me proud. Nobody listened to him, not even now. He wanted to capture natural light the purest way, without faking it at all, and it just spiritually touching the images he achieved.
dharmaista 1 year ago
@dharmaista I agree. He worked magic and sadly lived too short a life. I wish you success in your career and it makes me feel good to know that filmmakers today still recognize his enormous contribution to the art form.
clhopkinspan 1 year ago
@clhopkinspan Yes, I read about this somewhere, about the Cuban documentary, and also impressed me, his humanitarian political side. He loved Cuba, but left very dissapointed of communism. He was a very sensitive man, very ahead of his time, very intuitive mind. It is so sad he died so young, so sad. I miss more of his work.
dharmaista 1 year ago
@dharmaista This is arguably one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed. Almedros' construction of the scenes were completely haunting and miraculous. The way the prairie transforms from heaven into hell. Just.... wonderful.
TemplarReturns 1 year ago 4
@dharmaista Haskell Wexler actually photographed 51% of the film. He is too often forgotten when discussing Days of Heaven.
blablaidontcarewhour 9 months ago 3
@dharmaista malick did the cinematography on this film, nestor was just a credit. but in general, yes he was amazing
blaiserfilms 8 months ago 2
@dharmaista Almedros was 61. This is not old , but also not young. I saw him working with Rohmer in 1975. He had strong glasses and i was astonished that someone with such eyes can make such a good camera. And he was always very friendly and relaxed. In this time I did not know that he had also cuban roots. Anyway, some of the best camera operators we had in the last century. I agree!
BuridansEsel1 8 months ago 4
@dharmaista Absolutely.
TedMichaelMorgan 2 weeks ago
amazing theme full of melancoly and romance... only Morricone do it
5735740 3 years ago 14