SONG TO SONG: A Beautiful, Musical Puzzle
A couple of years ago, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a picture of Michael Fassbender giving Ryan Gosling a shoulder rub on the set of a new movie. I stopped and fan-girled in awe over the two handsome actors and was delighted to see that they were working together. Then I read the text under the photo, “Fassbender and Gosling on set of the latest Terrence Malick film”.
I sighed knowing that a Malick film was bound to take a while to be released. Song to Song provides some of Malick’s familiar themes: love, conflict and wide shot cinematography. But was the anticipation worth the wait?
The Music To The Song
Song to Song takes place in Austin, Texas in the midst of the cities music scene. Faye (Rooney Mara) is an aspiring musician who does odd jobs to get by. She meets and starts dating Cook (Michael Fassbender) who is a hot-shot music producer. Through her relationship with Cook, Faye meets BV (Ryan Gosling) and also begins a relationship with him. Strange enough, Faye doesn’t completely break things off with Cook and is dating him and BV at the same time. But that’s okay with Cook because he starts seeing a waitress named Rhonda (Natalie Portman). Needless to say, a bunch of muddy love triangles take up a large part of the plot of the film.
This is not unfamiliar for a Terrence Malick film, but the narrative of the story seems undefined. The relationship between Faye, Cook and BV is a little confusing; we never actually see Faye practicing an instrument or honing her musical craft. So her relationship to Cook is a bit of a mystery. Cook and BV know each other, as BV is a singer-songwriter, but their working relationship is never fleshed out. The introduction of Rhonda is a good break to the threesome debacle, but she leaves the film just as quickly as she enters. That makes sense because Cook is a stereotypical man of power and has numerous orgy filled parties.
A message, or a narrative, is openly missing from the film. Faye remarks that “any experience is better than no experience”, but the experiences she has in the film are fleeting moments of flirtation, sex and betrayal. A bonus: because the whole film is placed in the music scene, we get surprise cameos from Patti Smith, Iggy Pop and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Tuned out
One thing that can be said for Song to Song, or any Terrence Malick film for that matter, is that the cinematography is beautiful. The shots of Austin, the real-life feeling interactions between the actors; the look of the film is beautiful. But because the storyline was lacking so much, the film wound up as a disappointment.
We’ve seen this story before and it mirrors Closer and even another Malick film, Knight of Cups. It’s pretty people just moving around aimlessly in the world. That being said, Malick has a knack for juxtaposing nature to the movement of his characters. And with that in mind, all of the central characters seem to be floating along as if immersed in water.
To add to the nature theme, the story ebbs and flows like a dusty Texan wind, moving from themes of love, music, art, betrayal and forgiveness. If you go into the film framing it with a nature theme it may allow for the delivery to be a bit more bearable.
Conclusion
I have long been a fan of Terrence Malick films, and by no means would Song to Song destroy that. But it didn’t help it. The lack of a strong storyline and strong narrative did not make this as enjoyable of an experience as I had hoped. All of the actors brought their A-game and the look of the film was aesthetically pleasing, all that was missing was a strong plot. Too often, I felt like I was watching people just wander aimlessly and not even Fassbender and Gosling could make that interesting for the span of a whole film.
What is most important to you when it comes to seeing a film? Is the writing a deal breaker or does the look of the film matter most? Tell us what you thought in the comments below!
Song to Song was released in the US on March 17, 2017. For all international release dates, see here.
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