That being said, at the very least, To The Wonder will be worth a watch simply because it is a Terrence Malick film. The man is such an unconventional and interesting director and personally, I’d sit down to watch anything that has his name attached to it.
Unfortunately though, it seems that To The Wonder is going to be similar to the director’s last film in terms of how it is received.
Check out the Tweets below and you’ll see what I mean.
TO THE WONDER Syrupy and symphonic. A twig snapped straight off TREE OF LIFE. Affleck okay. Kurylenko’s character v. annoying.
#Venice2012— Adam Woodward (@AWLies) September 2, 2012
The usual storm of sneering, jeering and booing, I’m afraid, for Terrence Malick’s flawed, passionate, idealistic To The Wonder
#Venezia69— Peter Bradshaw (@PeterBradshaw1) September 2, 2012
TO THE WONDER (B+) Malick’s Tree of Love, at once less substantial and more satisfying than its predecessor. A thousand Christina’s worlds.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) September 2, 2012
Malick’s To the Wonder had me – until the turtle. And the bison.
#venezia69— Jason Solomons (@JasonCritic) September 2, 2012
TO THE WONDER (6/10). Malick-by-numbers? Oppressively virtuoso god-bothering mega-haiku of enchantment at dusk.
#venezia69— Neil Young (UK) (@JigsawLounge) September 2, 2012
To The Wonder by Terrence
#Malick is nothing more than atrocious left-overs of Tree of Life. Like a big “f** you” to the audience#venezia69— Beatrice Behn (@DansLeCinema) September 2, 2012
To the Wonder: gorgeous, crawling offshoot of Tree of Life. Problem: hard to give a toss abt stolid Affleck & pouting Kurylenko
#venezia69— Xan Brooks (@XanBrooks) September 2, 2012
T Malick’s To The Wonder: God that was boring
— Damon Wise (@yo_damo) September 2, 2012
The new Malick To the Wonder: greatAmbition, insightful touching moments. But a cinematic experience you would not inflict on a friend.
— Mick LaSalle (@MickLaSalle) September 2, 2012
To The Wonder: A love story without story, love or any kind of emotions. It’s show without tell. Thanks again Terrence Mallick… I guess.
— dōmenikº (@doomeniko) September 2, 2012
To the Wonder very disappointing
#Venice69 Malik does melodrama and makes his truly bad film— John Bleasdale (@drjonty) September 2, 2012
Malick’s TO THE WONDER gets a mixed reception at
#Venezia69. Exquisite, oddly balletic and sometimes like a Hillary’s Blinds commercial.— Kate Muir (@muirkate) September 2, 2012
To The Wonder (T. Malick) ****1/2
#cinevoti#venezia69— Fabrizio Ciavoni (@TerryKyno) September 2, 2012
Terrence Malick, what happened? “To the Wonder” a disappointing survey of love, with lead actress an ex-model…letdown.
#venezia69— Farah Nayeri (@fnayeri) September 2, 2012
Full review of To The Wonder coming, but for now 1) Ben Affleck was exaggerating a fair bit & 2) I liked it more than Tree Of Life.
— olilyttelton (@olilyttelton) September 2, 2012
To the Wonder is The Tree of Love – similar wispy, whispery musings applied to dull marriage drama. Can’t reason away God factor this time.
— Dave Calhoun (@davecalhoun) September 2, 2012
To the Wonder has its moments though not many; how many twirling skirts at sunset do you need?
#venice2012— Nick James (@filmnickjames) September 2, 2012
TO THE WONDER has a few good moments but otherwise it depends how many pouts and pirouettes in the hayseed sunset you can take
#venice2012— Nick James (@filmnickjames) September 2, 2012
#venezia69#venice69 Terrence Malick’s TO THE WONDER: the Tree of Life leftovers are predictably laughable and unwatchable. A true disaster.— Marco Duse (@marcoduse) September 2, 2012
Admittedly, I enjoyed The Tree of Life. It wasn’t perfect and it had several major flaws, but on the whole I was fairly impressed. At the very least, To The Wonder has me intrigued. The negative impressions do have me a bit worried, but I’ll still be seeing the film when it hits theatres.
On that note, distribution still hasn’t been secured for North America but expect that to change once the film premieres at TIFF.
