This review is not coming from a Terrence Malick detractor. In fact he is a director that falls for me in the "appreciate very highly" category.

His first five films were either very good ('The New World'),great('Badlands') and outstanding ('The Thin Red Line', 'Days of Heaven' and 'The Tree of Life'). Certainly don't anything at all against anybody who doesn't like those films or Malick in general, as Malick has a very unique, unconventional style that also isn't widely accessible, his films unlike many seen before or since, something that will entice a lot and perplex others. Was very much mixed on his next two films 'To the Wonder' and 'Knight of Cups', but they had good qualities.

'Song to Song', as of now from personal opinion, is Malick's worst. It is the film that connected with me the least, engaged me the least (never watch a film expecting entertainment from all of them, instead judging them in what they set out to do) and perplexed me the most. Do have to disagree respectfully that it is his most accessible film, 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven' are stronger contenders for that. If anything, as well as being his least ambitious ('The Tree of Life'),'Song to Song' is the film that will alienate audiences the most.

It is not without good things. Again from personal opinion, none of Malick's films are 1/10 films and none of them are close to being among the worst films ever made let alone THE worst. As always with Malick, 'Song to Song' does look absolutely stunning, the cinematography (not surprising considering one of the best cinematographers around Emmanuel Lubezki was responsible) has a very dream-like quality to it, the colours positively leap out at you in an eye-popping way and the scenery has a sweeping beauty.

Every single one of Malick's films are among the most beautiful films visually I've seen, with every frame having a breathtakingly naturalistic quality without feeling too orchestrated. The music gives an audibly rich, overwhelmingly emotional and quite haunting quality, fitting perfectly with everything on screen.

When it comes to the acting, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Michael Fassbender do great jobs. Mara especially is wonderful, her face and eyes say so much and all when she is saying little. Malick's style is unmistakable and is all over the film, and it is clear that he has put a lot of thought into his directing.

As was said with 'To the Wonder' and 'Knight of Cups', he is not entirely successful sadly. His directing has a thoughtful and philosophical touch, but did get the sense that he was trying too hard and that he was focusing too much on some aspects and not enough on others. Not everybody comes off well in the acting, Iggy Pop was just bizarre and out of place and while Cate Blanchett does her best she has very little to do, a waste of a great actress.

Regarding the voice overs, they are easily the worst voice overs in any of Malick's films. Not in how the actors deliver them, it's the way they are written that's the problem. They strive to be poetic, instead they are self-indulgent ("pretentious" is one of my most hated words now so won't be using that) and preachy, some of them do not flow well at all. There is a succession dream-like moments, some are very dreamy and beautiful but most are fragmented and endless. Spontaneity actually feels like stilted improvisation, authenticity is little and shape is even less.

Didn't engage with the characters really (apart from Mara's, but that was more to do with Mara's acting),most of them seemed disconnected and in a few cases pointless. 'Song to Song' is Malick at his most disjointed and dullest (a more preferable adjective to replace another one of my most hated words "boring", like "pretentious" it's overused and abused here).

It was the story, or lack of, and the pace that most underwhelmed. Do not have a problem with slow pacing, Malick's films are deliberately meditative and some of my favourite films are the same. But when the story came across as emotionally empty and disjointed, very like 'To the Wonder' and 'Knight of Cups' except they didn't leave me as stone cold as here, and mostly indecipherable (anybody will be forgiven having a hard time describing the plot let alone figuring it out) as well as the again personal themes barely developed it was impossible to engage with it. Thus making it a chore to sit through, even with 'To the Wonder' and 'Knight of Cups' faults they didn't make me feel this way anywhere near as much.

Overall, very disappointing and just doesn't sing. 4/10 Bethany Cox

BV (Ryan Gosling) and Faye (Rooney Mara) are musicians. Cook (Michael Fassbender) is a producer. Rhonda (Natalie Portman) is a waitress. BV has a fling with Amanda (Cate Blanchett) and Faye with Zoey. These relationships start, conflict, stop, and detour in the Austin music scene.

Terrence Malick continues to make these beautiful-looking dreamlike movies. It's beyond beauty but the story telling is muddled. His style of filmmaking is deliberately disjointed which makes all these complicated relationships hard to follow. It's also emotionally distant. Mara and Gosling have these droning voices which don't help in this case. It's a beautiful movie but the complicated relationship jumping loses me along the way. There is a bit guerrilla filmmaking as Malick steals scenes during real music festivals. This would work much better with fewer relationships.

"Song to Song" is the newest movie by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Terrence Malick and it came out freshly this year, in 2017. If you take a look at the last decades, you will see that he was extremely unprolific most of the time, but since the gigantic success of "The Tree of Life", it is almost the opposite. Sadly, the consequence is that his films have become a bit like what you would call bulk if they were goods. And after being fairly disappointed by Knight of Cups 2 years ago, this one here is another disappointment overall, especially if you take a look at the cast he had at his disposal. Gosling, Mara, Portman and Fassbender are among the most famous Hollywood has to offer right now looking at the actors' respective age groups. And also in terms of smaller characters and performances, the film has to offer names like Blanchett, Kilmer, Hunter and other names you have certainly come across in other well-known films or other projects like for example singer Lykke Li, who proves she is a decent actress too. This really shows how much the best of the best want to work with Malick right now.

So how did it go wrong eventually. Well, I guess it partially has to do with my subjective taste in films. Malick is Malick and he is different than everybody else. Be it his camera work where the camera is basically never still or the many scenes where you see the actors, but they are not really talking to each other and instead you get voice-overs giving us the characters' thought. Or be it the extremely poetic language that is a common denominator in all of Malick's works, it can be pretty difficult to get used to and even more difficult to appreciate his style. As for what I do not think is subjective approach is the inclusion of the music scene in this film. It was not really working at all. The kind of music in here goes strongly against Malick's calm, sensual approach to filmmaking and it creates a gap that is impossible to close in my opinion. Besides, the entire music background plot added very little in general. Especially Mara looked completely out of place in the second half when we see her on stage occasionally.

But nonetheless, Mara, Fassbender and Portman prove they are among the finest actors from their generation and certainly good enough to star in high quality films and carry them. The trio even almost turned this film into a good watch. Mara was probably the one most in the center of it all and she was mesmerizing to watch. Fassbender did a good job too and he had some scenes that could have gone wrong with a less talented actor, but thanks to his range he makes stuff like the seagull scene not only work, but turns it into one of his best moments. And Portman started looking like a bimbo in her very first scene, but she managed the difficult task of turning her character into a highlight here. Her final scene and voice-over was perhaps the film's very best moment and could have been a worthy moment to finish the film too. or the "Amen" comment. But Malick really missed out big style on having the credits roll in at the right time. The very final part about Mara's and Gosling's character finding each other once again felt fake and unauthentic and like a forced happy ending that I totally could have done without. This may also have to do with the fact that Ryan Gosling (you may have realized I did not mention him with the others) was underwhelming again and I am just not a fan of him at all and his performance here sure can't change that. Honestly, to me he has the most smirky grin ever and I am baffled to see so many people falling for his one-dimensional routine again and again, for example also when it comes to his very recent Oscar-nominated and Golden-Globe winning turn.

But back to this movie here. It is always with Malick visually stunning at times, but this only refers to the landscapes occasionally, not to all the party photography. But like all the poetic dialogues and voice-overs (that frequently did not fit the characters at all),there are more than just a few scenes that did not work at all and should have been left out. Just one very brief example: the deer scene where Malick clearly misses in terms of hitting the right spot. It may have been so metaphorical and symbolic on so many occasions, but what's the point if it doesn't make sense to anybody but the filmmaker himself. The consequence is that the self-important moments feel pretty fake at times and that I must agree with those who call the film overlong, pompous and pretentious. Which weren't too few as the general consensus for this film is not a positive one. I myself agree with these and give "Song to Song" another thumbs-down. Such a shame to see an outcome like this when you have such a mindblowingly strong cast at your disposal. Watch something else instead and I really hope that Malick's upcoming work will turn out better because if there is one German/European actor who finally deserves it to have a huge breakthrough in America, then it is August Diehl. Fingers crossed!