The movie follows screenwriter living in Los Angeles who tries to make sense of the strange events occurring around him when he experiences an existential crisis after finding fame and fortune in Hollywood.
Perhaps only Christopher Guest can pull off an entirely improvised movie. And perhaps Malick should return to scripts, full-volume voiceovers, and more linear storytelling if he doesn't want to Woody Allen himself and push away fans for good.
There's nothing quite like a Malick movie. But once viewers have contemplated the mysteries of the universe itself, perhaps anything else will feel like a step down.
Knight of Cups is a film that feels it has something important to say - much like a twenty-year-old college student who has tried weed for the first time - but in reality, just like said college student, it is speaking nothing but gibberish.
eFilmCritic.com
May 16, 2017
There's something insecure and almost frightened in the emulsion of the film; it seems to be making itself, finding its way in a dark room.
Using a mix of slow motion, montage, cameos, split screen and more, Malick examines modern day superficiality and the quest for meaning in a flawed yet well-crafted film.
Malick has moved from self-discovery to self-affirmation; he knows exactly what he's looking for, and Knight of Cups, for all its splendor, made me wish that he could take a swig and forget.
Taken as a straightforward movie, "Knight of Cups" is an indecipherable mess. Taken as a piece of nonlinear visual poetry, "Knight of Cups" is still an indecipherable mess.
