![]() There is certainly no vaguely anti-Semitic undertones as Jerusalem falls (within the books, Jerusalem is one of the few harbors of humanity that never collapses). ![]() There are no insect-like hordes sprinting through the streets. There is no race against time to find a cure (there isn't one). Max Brooks' novel is not a rollicking action-adventure. The shape is the same, but that's about it. Instead, it was the cinematic equivalent of ordering lobster-and-crab ravioli and getting microwave pizza rolls instead. It was a big budget spectacle that accurately showcased the panic such an outbreak would cause. The World War Z adaptation was a great, mindless (zing!) film about the new du jour in zombie cinema: the fast zombie. GOOGLE: “PIXEL 3” is currently available via the YouTube embed above.To which I say: Good, and I spit on its grave. In this context, Malick’s “PIXEL 3” spot slides in rather effortlessly into this portion of his career: a phase that has seen the celebrated director actively dismantle the mythic aura he had constructed around himself in order to become more accessible, more intimate, and more human. If one so desires, the power to become the next Malick literally lies within arm’s reach. Of course, that very well may be the point of the entire exercise- with the Pixel 3 in their pocket (or any other 4K video-capable smartphone on the market, really) anyone can make beautiful cinematic images. The effect is not unlike that of an amateur filmmaker who voraciously devoured Malick’s filmography in and then set out to make his or her own version of a “Malick” movie with a smartphone. The consumer-quality pedigree of the format has an anonymizing effect on Malick’s presence, despite the director’s singularly curious eye informing every setup. There’s also what I can only describe as a digital “flimsiness” to the image, which to my eyes appears to be rooted in the smartphone shutter. Speaking on a purely technical level, there’s a distinct chunkiness to the image, with a compressed spectrum of contrast and color thanks to a latitude that simply can’t match the aforementioned cameras. ![]() The quirky electronic soundtrack reinforces this idea of childlike awe at the surrounding world, rendered through Malick’s signature use of natural light (especially the dim glow of magic hour).įunnily enough, the juxtaposition of Malick’s artistic eye with the burgeoning field of smartphone video illustrates just how much the medium has yet to grow before it can truly match celluloid film, digital cinema formats like Red or Arri, or even basic DSLR capabilities. The bright, saturated colors from the Pixel 3’s sensor paint a vibrant picture as Malick’s camera (well, phone) wanders restlessly around a multitude of moments oriented towards the ephemeral pleasures of childhood. The piece foregoes a conventional narrative in favor of letting Malick run wild through a cascading wave of visual vignettes, in the process capturing nothing less than the joyful exuberance of life itself. Malick is no stranger to this technology, having incorporated snippets of smartphone and GoPro video into his recent features- the rapid-fire advancements in resolution and clarity continuing to blur what was once a stark dividing line between the mobile format and 35mm celluloid. The piece tasks Malick with replicating his latter-day filmmaking approach, albeit exclusively through the use of the Pixel 3’s video capabilities. The debut of his 2018 spot for Google’s “PIXEL 3” smartphone came as quite a surprise to everyone, dropping with zero build-up or preceding fanfare. Indeed, a cursory glance at the contemporary commercial landscape yields no shortage of work that wears Malick’s profound aesthetic influence on its sleeve he fits into this world far better than he - or anyone else for that matter - could have ever predicted. Take another look, however, and the similarities between Malick’s experimental, ephemeral aesthetic and the fleeting nature of the commercial format become rather abundant. Its very existence seemed antithetical to Malick’s artistic creed- a product generated for the benefit of a corporate entity, rather than a sincere expression of the human experience from a singular individual. When director Terrence Malick’s commercial for Mon Guerlain fragrance arrived in 2017, many were quite surprised that the venerated, almost-mythic filmmaker could (and would) stoop to a supposedly “lower” format such as advertising.
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