Bobbing Along With "Song to Song"

Anyone familiar with Terrence Malick's recent output already knows what to expect from his latest, "Song to Song." The story is told through a rambling, stream-of-consciousness narrative with lots and lots of character monologues shedding light on private thoughts and interior lives. The characters wander through the frame, often doing nothing in particular, except to provide a focal point for the gorgeous cinematography. There's not much of a plot, but "Song to Song" uses a love triangle as a starting point, before each of the three leads eventually wanders off on their own spiritual and emotional journeys, occasionally returning to reflect and reconnect.

Frankly, after "To the Wonder" and "Knight of Cups," I was ready to write off "Song to Song" sight unseen. It felt like Malick's movies were getting entirely too self-indulgent and unfocused. However, "Song to Song" stars the trio of Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, and Michael Fassbender, who are three of the most charismatic actors currently working, with Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett in minor roles, no less. My curiosity got the better of me, and I'm glad it did. While I still don't much care for Malick's introspective reveries, there were enough moments of sensual cinematic bliss to keep my attention. Also, it's far more interesting to watch this group of young actors running around Austin, Texas, amusing themselves, than it is to watch broody Ben Affleck or Christian Bale meandering through their boring voyages of self-discovery.

Rooney Mara plays Faye, a guitarist who gets involved with another musician, BV (Gosling), and his record producer Cook (Fassbender). BV is a positive influence, and Cook is a negative, destructive one. For a time, Faye is able to keep the two relationships separate, but eventually they all fall out with each other. Cook eventually marries Rhonda (Portman), while BV takes up with Amanda (Blanchett). The POV switches from character to character, and the story becomes more and more impressionistic with time. In keeping with Malick's treatment of film in more poetic than narrative terms, the subjective emotional and spiritual state of each character is more important than what's actually going on onscreen. Unfortunately, this means parts of the film feel repetitive, seem aimless, or lack coherency. And it's also very easy to lose track of the breakups and reconciliations, one night stands and affairs.

Early sections of the film could be mistaken for home videos of the actors' trips to Austin and Mexico, though there's a sense of forced busyness to some of the action. A good deal of the footage came from the 2012 SXSW music festival and nearby events, which allows for cameos from figures like Iggy Pop and Patti Smith, but the film doesn't stay in that world for very long. Soon the rock music gives way to classical, and we find ourselves back in nature. Emmanuel Lubezki does manage to put a few really stunning images on the screen, and there's a lovely intimacy to watching scenes of Gosling and Mara simply enjoying each others' company. There's also a brief, touching encounter with a prostitute, played by Jaylen Jones, who is easily the most interesting character in the film.

The actors are so strong, it's difficult not to become invested in their characters, but the material is pretty weak all around. At times, it feels like Malick simply took unrelated footage and put some monologues over it to try and stitch together a story. Several artistic choices also don't come across as particularly well considered. All the actors seem to be playing very thinly sketched variations on other roles. Keeping in mind the film was shot around 2012, it's far too easy to see the echoes of Fassbender's sex addict character from "Shame" and Gosling's romantic lead from "Blue Valentine." At the same time, these pieces do occasionally come together beautifully.

So as much as I find "Song to Song" unfocused and derivative, and definitely not one of Terrence Malick's stronger films, I still think it's worth a watch. I like the lyricism, the moments of peacefulness, and the way it takes its time. I like how it finds these interesting views of urban spaces and the occasional glimpses into other people's lives. I like that it's terribly old fashioned and absolutely committed to its own, flowing, introspective, deeply private method of storytelling. And I find myself very glad that Terrence Malick got to make this film, even if it's such a flawed one.
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