Friday 13 May 2016

Film Review: "Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey" (2016).


"The Story of our universe." This is Voyage of Time: Life's Journey. This documentary film written and directed by Terrence Malick. The film is an exploration into our planetary past and a search for humanity's place in the future. Malick examines the origins of the universe, the birth of stars and galaxies, the beginning of life on Earth and the evolution of species.

Back in the late 1970s, Malick began developing a project for Paramount entitled Q that explored the origins of life on earth. In 1979, the project was set up at Paramount Pictures, with production commencing with a budget of $1 million. However, the project was ultimately shelved after the lukewarm critical and commercial reception of Days of Heaven (1978). Though elements were later utilised for The Tree of Life (2011). Over forty years, Malick read and researched and interviewed top scientists. In 2003, principal photography commenced. Filming took place all over the world, which included Southwestern U.S, Hawaii, Iceland, Monterey, Chile, Palau, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. In 2009, Brad Pitt was confirmed to narrate the film, as well as star in The Tree of Life. In 2011, Emma Thompson joined the project, but her narration was ultimately cut from the finished film. In 2014, Cate Blanchett joined the project, and replaced Thompson. The visual effects were supervised by Dan Glass and Douglas Trumbull. The visual effects team of the film were presented with four main visual challenges: (1) creating the astrophysical imagery before the solar system we know existed, and then conceiving and visualizing the futurescape of our universe, referencing the latest theories about our cosmic destiny; (2) representing the protoplanetary disk that formed and condensed to become our solar system and the planets it contains; (3) imaging the first unicellular forms of life in all their majesty and motion, which would learn to replicate and form increasingly complex organisms; and (4) re-conceiving animals that no longer roam the earth, convincingly blending them with analog equivalents where they exist today. In order to overcome the visual challenges of the process, Malick and Glass, visual effects supervisor for the film, created what they called "Skunkworks" for photographic experimentation. According to Glass, these were literally chemical experiments conducted to see how various liquids, dyes, gasses and fluids might behave while being filmed at high-speed. Malick and Glass used everything from gels and glass, to smoke machines and fluid tanks, to create a whole range of effects. One of their main inspirations was the rich work of 19th-century painter Albert Bierstadt, to the extent that Malick referred to their work as "Bierstadting". The film was released in two versions: a forty-minute IMAX version with narration by Pitt, and this 35mm ninety-minute version narrated by Blanchett.

Malick's singularly deliberate style may prove unrewarding for some, but for patient viewers, Voyage of Time: Life's Journey is an emotional as well as visual treat. The film is an unashamedly epic reflection on birth and life, and a mad and magnificent film.

Simon says Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey receives:



Also, see my review for Knight of Cups.

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