David Lowery: In praise, briefly, of length

June 27, 2011

In praise, briefly, of length

1. In complete congruence with all those articles and papers detailing the rewiring of our craniums by the mess of information at our fingertips, I've found my ever-diminishing attention span matched handily by the evolution of online analysis and discourse into brief sets of opinions and bullet points. My own output is even less than that, and so it was with a mix of admiration and envy that I discovered this incredibly close reading of The Tree Of Life by Niles Schwartz. I didn't know how deeply considered it was until I'd reached the point at which most online writing reached its maximum word count, but Schwarz had scarcely even begun. It was long, and it was good, and reading it reminded me that works with both qualities, when read within a context redundant with the exact opposite, can actually be physically satisfying. Like a good deep stretch. As for the essay itself, it is as much a study guide as it is a critical analysis. Schwartz has illuminated the source and possible meaning of nearly every image and sequence from the film, opening up the potential latent within it while concurrently revealing just as much about its author. His selection of quotations at the beginning corresponds with my own suspicion that what Malick has embarked upon with this film is a cinematic analog to In Search Of Lost Time. I don't know anyone who's loved the film who wouldn't have been happy to keep watching the story of the O'Brien boys as they grow up, and I take solace in the fact that Malick's next film is, by all accounts, going to be just as autobiographical as this one: the next volume of his Proustian stroll down memory lane.

Schwartz's piece is preceded by equally extensive takes on Malick's previous films (not to mention other current cinema), which I'm about to dig into; in keeping with his affront to modern means of input, he suggests in the sidebar that his essays will be better enjoyed if it's printed out and read on paper. I embrace the spirit of that one, if not quite the letter.

2. I've spent the last two months cutting a new feature film. We're not quite done yet. My editors' pass was 92 minutes and, since then, working with the director in LA, the running time has fluctuated between 87 and 90. One of my favorite blanket statements is that the best movies are always over three hours or under ninety minutes, which isn't true at all but does say something about my fear of commitment. Said phobia kicks in vehemently during the editing process, particularly when faced with the prospect of having to watch the various edits from start to finish over and over and over again. It conversely abates when the movie starts working, and the matter of running time falls by the wayside entirely. A good movie is as long as it needs to be to be good, and this one's definitely getting there.

3. When I moved back to Texas two years ago, I moved straight into my wife (then girlfriend's) apartment. When her lease was up last May, we got a bigger apartment in the same building. I'm not a fan of apartment complexes, but this one was nice enough, with a lovely creek view that spread through the boxy white walls and made them feel all our own. When our lease was up for renewal in April, we debated moving somewhere else, maybe to Austin or even Los Angeles, but decided that we were both too busy (and lazy) to worry about it this summer, and this place was good enough for another year. We signed another lease. Exactly one month later we got a notice that our building was going to be demolished, and we had to be out by the middle of July. So much for staying put. So we're moving into a beautiful old house with creaky wooden floors and room for a big garden out back. It won't be ready until the day before they begin tearing this complex down. Almost everyone else has already vacated their homes, and within a week we'll be the only humans left in this little gated ghost town. I'll enjoy that while it lasts.

4. It's been a long time since I've mentioned what I hope will be my next movie. I'd say it's due for an update soon.

Posted by David Lowery at June 27, 2011 3:22 PM