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Terrence Malick Loves Tall Grass So, So Much
Terrence Malick's films divide opinion like few directors working today. Some praise him for his visionary artistic flair and deeply philosophical undertones. Others dislike him for the exact same reasons, because they think those are traits for pretentious assholes. Still others might have fallen asleep during the first 10 minutes of The Thin Red Line, and that's the full extent of their Terrence Malick knowledge. But whether you find his work to be poetic, or pompous, or are still saying "Who?," we can all agree on one thing -- his movies have just a shitload of people running through tall grass.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Above: The film Badlands, in its entirety.
Malick is always certain to squeeze in as many fields of tall grass as he can. Sometimes at all costs. Because, and this might be hard to believe, not every story involves people running into wheat fields to frolic artistically. Malick loves grass so much that characters in his movies often wander out into a field for no reason, then plop down to deliver a monologue, or finish a bowl of cereal.
Paramount Pictures
A natural place for a bowl.
Paramount Pictures
Are you sure that's the least-itchy place you could be having that unrelated-to-wheat conversation, girls?
His most famous movie, The Thin Red Line, is about the Pacific theater during World War II. Most movies on the subject are horrific naval battles, high-speed dogfights, and maniacal samurai sword charges. The Thin Red Line managed to condense all of war into 148 hours of Sean Penn crying in the tall grass.
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
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