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I’d venture to say that there are two highly anticipated films coming out this coming weekend. The first, of course, is Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life,” newly anointed by Robert De Niro and the Cannes Festival Jury with a Palme d’Or. Then there’s “The Hangover Part II,” the excitement for which is a bit different. I’ll be honest: initially I was hoping to write about Malick’s early short film, 1969’s “Lanton Mills.” Unfortunately, not only is it not available anywhere on the web, but to see it at all you have to go to the American Film Institute library. Those…...

Chicago – The cinema of Terrence Malick has been a process of discovery, for its director and his devoted audience. His work is fueled by spontaneous miracles, typified by the moment when an illuminated cloud formation creates an image of astounding, temporary beauty. His films aren’t just breathtakingly brilliant and hauntingly provocative. They’re also curiously soul-cleansing.

Malick’s fluid gaze and restless imagination requires an adventurous cinematographer to assist him in fully exploring the world of his movie during production. Nature itself becomes a major character on his canvas. The filmmaker makes no secret about his love for the trunks of towering trees, the movement of the wind through tall grass, the look of bodies underwater. His childlike reverence for earthly creations is utterly intoxicating, and has routinely reawakened my own awe of existence. Yet beauty also takes on an ominous quality, providing an ideal hiding place for menace.

Nathaniel: And so we come to the top film in our List O' Impatience called "We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond" There's still neither trailer nor official stills. With Malick, you always have to wait. Even when you feel you can't.

The Tree of Life

Directed by Terrence Malick

Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Fiona Shaw (in the 1950s) Sean Penn and Joanna Going (in present day)

Synopsis (don't read if you don't wanna know the very basic template) Malick has described the film as a "mystical epic". There's rumored to be a section of the film about prehistoric Earth. But most of what we know is that it's a story in two main parts. First, a story about the eldest boy in a young family in the 1950s (Brad Pitt is the father) and the loss of innocence. The second part is about the boy as a disillusioned...

Salute Your Shorts is a weekly column that looks at short films, music videos, commercials or any other short form visual media that generally gets ignored.A lot of directors aren’t so keen on having their student films shown. Terrence Malick’s “Lanton Mills,” directed while he was still learning the trade at the American Film Institute, is kept on lockdown only available at the AFI to the institute’s scholars. Likewise, Kubrick did all he could to destroy every print of his first feature, though luckily he didn't succeed. But there’s a lot to be gleaned from films while directors are still...

He may have been circling Held By the Taliban last month, but now Terrence Malick is looking for a little romance. Deadline Hollywood reports that Malick's next film will be a romantic love story starring Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko. Unfortunately, practically nothing is being shared about the feature, except that Malick wrote it and plans to get into production this fall. (A lovers' rectangle perhaps?)

The fastidious filmmaker is known for taking his time creating his films, so chances are he's not going to elbow Kathryn Bigelow, or whoever else is circling the Taliban pic, out of the way. Then again, someone has definitely lit a fire under this man. Let's recap: He started his career in 1969 with the short Lanton Mills. Badlands was his first feature in 1973, followed by Days of Heaven in 1978, The Thin Red Line in 1998, The New World in 2005, and The...

The furious way that the beautiful free flowing style which Terrence Malick has curated over his career is talked about often disguises the fact that he has made just four features and one (some people say two), rare as hens teeth, shorts. So, after only a hand full of features in 37 years what is it about the director that has celluloid lovers chomping at the bit. Until very recently there were only 2 published interviews with the modest director in existence and only a handful of photographs. His stubbornness with the press is legendary. His Tom Sawyer like trademark themes of innocents somehow lost within harsh mother nature, the beautifully paced editing and pitch perfect scores, his poetic and naturalistic voice overs and consistently jaw dropping cinematography has helped the film maker achieve a level of awe and mystery perhaps only reserved on a comparable level for one Stanley Kubrick. The...