|
|
Days Of Heaven
on DVD (1979)
|
|
| Starring: |
Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams, Linda Manz, Stuart Margolin, Timothy Scott, Jackie Shultis, Bob Wilke |
| Director: |
Terrence Malick |
| Studio: |
PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time: |
89 mins |
| Certificate: |
 |
| User collections: |
excellent choices, Films you may never have heard of but you'll never forget |
| Genres: |
Drama |
| Languages: |
English |
| Dubbed: |
German |
| Hearing-impaired: |
English |
| Subtitles: |
Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish |
| Released: |
02/07/2001
|
Brief synopsis of Days Of Heaven
Terrence Malick's follow-up to BADLANDS is an exquisitely photographed story of a group of early-20th-century itinerant workers who find themselves entangled in a deadly love triangle. Bill (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams) are lovers who are forced to flee Chicago after Bill accidentally murders his foreman. Together, with Bill's little sister, Linda (Linda Manz), they settle on the land of a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) and spend their days working in the wheat fields. Bill discovers that the farmer is terminally ill and convinces Abby to marry him so they can inherit his fortune. As the days progress, it becomes apparent that the farmer isn't getting any sicker, and when he discovers that Abby and Bill had initially set out to con him, their carefree existence comes to a deadly end.
Notorious for its on-set difficulties and extended postproduction, DAYS OF HEAVEN remains a beautifully composed work of art. Malick uses dialogue minimally, sometimes choosing not to fade in the sound of a scene until the actors have finished speaking. To combat this, he applies Linda's innocent voice-over--as he did with Sissy Spacek's in BADLANDS--to add a poetic dimension. Combined with Nestor Almendros's Oscar-winning cinematography and Ennio Morricone's mellifluent score, DAYS OF HEAVEN is a timeless motion picture that confirms Malick's directorial prowess.
|
Related
Critics Reviews
Radio Times
This truly extraordinary visual treat from director Terrence Malick and Oscar-winning cinematographer Nestor Almendros was not a great commercial success, but has inspired film and particularly commercial directors for over a decade. Malick, who has only made two other films (Badlands and The Thin Red Line), takes a couple of disenfranchised labourers, Richard Gere and Brooke Adams, and Gere's little sister Linda Manz, and sets them down in the golden vastness of the Texas wheatfields. A tragedy-strewn love triangle develops between Gere, Adams and their employer, Sam Shepard, though Malick steps back from the narrative to give us a curiously disembodied elegy on poverty and freedom. One to luxuriate in as an accomplished cinematic exercise, rather than engage with as an involving tale.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Visually a superb slice of period life, it has an emotional force that emerges slowly from the conjunction of the vast landscape and its reticent intruders, who have fled from the dark of the city to find no peace in the country.
Variety
"...DAYS OF HEAVEN is a dramatically moving and technically breathtaking American art film, one of the great cinematic achievements of the last decade..."
See all 5 Critics Reviews »
Members Reviews
Reviews Voted Most Helpful
Most Recent Reviews
|
|
