Recently, film producer Sarah Green, best known for her collaborations with filmmaker Terrence Malick, was honored at the Texas Film Awards for her continuous work in the movie industry. At the ceremony, I took the opportunity to tell her how much I had enjoyed Malick’s previous feature, Knight of Cups, which she had produced. I mentioned to Green how the film had been one of my favorites of the year due to its depiction of a disenchanted individual wandering through a sort of L.A. wonderland desperately searching for meaning and closure. She thanked me profusely for the compliment and as we shook hands, she told me with absolute certainty, “You’re going to LOVE Song to Song.” How right she was.
Song to Song, Malick’s follow-up effort, takes an intimate look at two different romances, one between a hotshot record producer (Michael Fassbender) and a good-natured waitress (Natalie Portman), the other between an aspiring musician (Ryan Gosling) and an aimless young woman (Rooney Mara). As their love entanglements stretch out to include a wealthy divorcee (Cate Blanchett) and a beautiful French art lover (Berenice Marlohe), the two couples’ complicated love affairs play out in surprising ways against the backdrop of Austin’s vibrant and eclectic music scene.
There aren’t too many films with titles which so beautifully encompass the spirit and various meanings within them quite like Song to Song. The title says so much about Malick’s film as a love story and, more specifically, how it defines what comprises a love story. All the characters in Song to Song are searching for the kind of love that will not only complete them, but in a way, inform them of who they are. Everyone is searching for that special connection as a way of finding out the answer to what’s been missing in their lives. The people in Song to Song make no excuse about compromising themselves in various ways as a means to find not only love but who they think they’re meant to be. Regardless of their background or social status, everyone in Song to Song is longing for a validation of sorts, someone who will love them for exactly who they are without compromise and offer them a safe place to belong. The way Malick sees it, each relationship is a song in and of itself. Each one is different; feels different, plays out differently, and has its own special meaning.
However, the idea behind Song to Song as a title goes far deeper than just a way of signifying what it means to seek out love. The title, as Malick paints it, ends up being a surprisingly telling metaphor for life. Themes of redemption, guilt, and faith run rampant throughout Song to Song; each one forces the characters within the film to adapt to the very specific rhythm each aspect of life brings with it. Not only do the “songs” of the title refer to finding out who you are, but they represent moving through a variety of life’s transitions on the way to discovering the person each of the main characters is meant to become, however long it takes. On the way to discovering this is the stark realization of finding out what you’ve become by seeing yourself in the kinds of people you never thought you would be. Adding to this is the ultimate, mind-numbing revelation of time suddenly having disappeared after seemingly standing still for so long.
Malick has always populated his films with actors who can take on his unique filmmaking style and admirably exist within it. Song to Song is no exception as it features stunning work from each and every member of the ensemble. While Gosling and Fassbender bring the kind of solid performances one would expect, Portman and Blanchett reveal new layers to their talents under Malick’s guidance. However, it’s Mara who is the true standout of the piece. Always an actress who has been able to say so much through her eyes, Mara fits perfectly in Malick’s world and flawlessly operates on his wavelength by projecting anguish, romance, and tranquility without having to utter a single word.
The director certainly makes substantial use of the city of Austin as the setting to tell this somewhat complex love story, making sure to include legendary clubs, eateries, and concert venues in the process. But rather than use the film to pimp out the city he calls home, Malick takes advantage of the Austin’s versatility, disguising it as a wondrous, poetic, and romantic backdrop for the characters and their stories. The appearance of legendary musicians including Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, and others adds credibility and a strong sense of place, even if it means their interactions with the film’s characters (who have nothing to do but stare back at them with wide eyes) essentially put the story on hold. It’s a small complaint in what is otherwise a deeply felt and relatable love story which remains consistently perceptive and true in ways many other such tales could never be.
