Song to Song

Name: Song to Song
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
Released: March 17, 2017
Duration: 129 min
Rating: 54

2017

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Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 67 Ratings

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6.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 67 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Broad Green Pictures | Release Date: March 17, 2017 | R

Summary: In this modern love story set against the Austin, Texas music scene, two entangled couples — struggling songwriters Faye (Rooney Mara) and BV (Ryan Gosling), and music mogul Cook (Michael Fassbender) and the waitress whom he ensnares (Natalie Portman) — chase success through a rock ‘n’ roll landscape of seduction and betrayal.

Director: Terrence Malick

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Music

Rating: R

Runtime: 129 min

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Critic Reviews

100

John Semley

Apr 6, 2017

Where Song to Song most distinguishes itself among Malick’s uniquely rich filmography is its abiding despair. It is his most pessimistic film since "Badlands." Read full review

Empire Ian Freer

Jul 10, 2017

Never reaching the heights of Malick’s ’70s heyday (what does?), Song To Song represents some kind of return to form following Knight Of Cups. It won’t convert the unconvinced, but it is beautiful, melancholic, audacious and well-played, a refinement rather than reinvention of a singular filmmaker. Read full review

Calvin Wilson

Mar 23, 2017

Some moviegoers will find the experience frustrating; others will be exhilarated by a film that’s far afield from the usual formulas. Read full review

Matt Donato

Mar 11, 2017

Song To Song is one of the more accessible Malick films as of late, succeeding largely in part thanks to a cast who plays their dramatic beats like poetry in motion. Read full review

The Playlist Rodrigo Perez

Mar 11, 2017

Those impatient with Malick’s cyclical fixations will easily find themselves worn out by Song To Song especially in the enervating third act that essentially repeats the entire movie and its theme exhaustingly. Read full review

Joshua Rothkopf

Mar 11, 2017

A swirly-girly sameness has taken over Malick’s flow; his movies aren’t supposed to feel like fashion spreads but they do, even as hushed narrators speak about their aching souls and lost loves. Read full review

Rex Reed

Mar 21, 2017

I call it cinematic freebasing. It’s tired, repetitious, superficial, dreary and done to death before, by the same director, movie to movie and—forgive me for the unpardonable pun — song by song. Read full review

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User Reviews

charlesv007

Mar 17, 2017

The movie is the best movie from Terrence Malick, combines drama with humor and some musical things, ryan gosling performance is amazing and michael fassbender shines in this movie, both deserve the nomination for the next oscars, in conclusion Song To Song actually is one of the best movieThe movie is the best movie from Terrence Malick, combines drama with humor and some musical things, ryan gosling performance is amazing and michael fassbender shines in this movie, both deserve the nomination for the next oscars, in conclusion Song To Song actually is one of the best movie of the year and one of the best movies from Ryan Gosling.… Expand

2 of 9 users found this helpful27

DrBlahBlah

Apr 30, 2017

The best film of 2017 so far. Like most Malick films, it's a half hour longer than it needs to be, but that's a minor complaint considering its overall beauty.

1 of 8 users found this helpful17

JBBu

Jul 21, 2018

The typical Malick technique of providing few clues on the "plot" with occasional voice overs and spare dialogue keeps one guessing.T he creative style of never ending 10 - 20 second strait cuts sequences from all points of view (from a go pro on the ground to an aerial viewpoint... in theThe typical Malick technique of providing few clues on the "plot" with occasional voice overs and spare dialogue keeps one guessing.T he creative style of never ending 10 - 20 second strait cuts sequences from all points of view (from a go pro on the ground to an aerial viewpoint... in the snap of a finger) can be initially jarring. But overall I really liked this film as a dreamlike poem with great acting, filming and tasteful editing. Its his best one since Tree of Life.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Spangle

Apr 6, 2017

A dream-like kaleidoscopic descent into the madness of Austin, Texas, and the relationships on display in the film, Song to Song feels akin to a short film from Stan Brakhage or Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. Echoes of Jean-Luc Godard at his most experimental can also be heard withA dream-like kaleidoscopic descent into the madness of Austin, Texas, and the relationships on display in the film, Song to Song feels akin to a short film from Stan Brakhage or Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. Echoes of Jean-Luc Godard at his most experimental can also be heard with Malick standing alongside Godard as both extend a middle finger to audiences that wish to receive a normal viewing experience. With a loose connection of images and a free-wheeling approach to scenes and cutting, Song to Song is most certainly lyrical and poetic, but it mostly feels hollow. Its themes are compelling, but haphazardly composed and never rise to the level of importance bestowed upon them by the distant and experimental nature of the film. As a result, it is a hell of a tough watch and not the easiest 129 minutes of filmgoing I have ever experienced. With loose connections to be drawn between scenes, there is a common thread, but there is so much fluff and excess surrounding it, that core seems to get lost in the shuffle.

A deeply spiritual filmmaker by nature, Malick infuses Song to Song with a lot of overt references to God, human nature, and sin. Juxtaposing scenes of Cook (Michael Fassbender) and Rhonda (Natalie Portman) engaging in a three-way with a prostitute with that very same prostitute telling Rhonda that she wants God to come save her, it is clear that there is a deeply religious film. It is through this context that the film's core themes reveal themselves: temptation, love, and experience. Explaining in a voice-over early on that she wishes to experience everything, Faye (Rooney Mara) does just that. She has a highly conventional relationship with BV (Ryan Gosling), a solely physical affair with Cook, and even a few lesbian encounters. Yet, none of these fulfill her. As her initial voice-over noted, she needed every experience to be above and beyond its normal level for her to actual feel it ("the sex needed to be violent"), or else the moment would drift away and she would float on to the next one.

Yet, by the end, she has come back. She gives into temptation with Cook, but comes back to BV at the end and is willing to toss away experiencing life in Austin and replace it with living life with BV in small town America. Faye's journey in this film is one played out in real life and film many times before, though not nearly as dressed up as in Song to Song. She is a girl who is unhappy with herself, as shown in her conversations with her father, and is unsure of what she wants. As a result, she tries everything. She never says no, even when she is hesitant or unsure and regardless of who can be hurt by her actions. Instead, she flies by the seat of her pants and dives head first into the pool of life. Unfortunately for she realizes nearly too late that what truly made her happy and feel in touch with the world was what she had initially and now, she must find her way back to that life and that experience by returning to BV. Considering how dense the film itself is, for it to be able to be boiled down - mostly - into just that description really speaks as to how fluff-filled Song to Song is at 129 minutes.

Malick does add depth, however, with that aforementioned religious parallels. For the film, the character of Cook often comes to represent temptation and could be described as being Satan-esque, if not Satan himself. Presenting temptation to everybody in the film, he drives them all of their pre-ordained paths by offering them a world of experience. For Faye, he promises sexual pleasure that she had never before felt with Cook being adventurous and a generous lover. For BV, he promises to help him make a record deal that would allow him to have the world (classic Lucifer stuff here). For Rhonda, he promises an escape from her job as a waitress and to experience a world she had never been in before. Yet, it all backfires. Faye continues to jump from experience-to-experience and hits bottom when she realizes her father is disappointed in her. BV continues to struggle as a musician and realizes that Cook filed copyrights for BV's songs under Cook's name only, essentially stealing his work. Rhonda is driven into depression and driven away from her mother Miranda (Holly Hunter) to the point that she is suicidal. Promising the world to all that he encounters, Cook frequently engages in sexual sins with three-ways and intense promiscuity while corrupting everybody he touches and dragging them down in hellfire along with himself. As Rhonda notes in a voice-over, he is a destructive force. Yet, Cook embraces his tempting ways, explaining that "people want to be deceived". In essence, he is merely giving people what they want, so what is wrong with that? He is a selfish and harmful being, whether or not he is actually Satan. He is a man that seeks to drive people off the path with empty promises with the sole goal of fulfilling his own needs and sucking the life out of their soul.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JennyKat570

Jun 24, 2017

Pretentious, promiscuous Austin scenesters pair up, cheat on each other, take drugs, ramble endlessly about wanting to "be free" and "try everything" (as though these weren't already overworked cliches 50 years ago), and ultimately realize that, hey, doing all the above isn't really a veryPretentious, promiscuous Austin scenesters pair up, cheat on each other, take drugs, ramble endlessly about wanting to "be free" and "try everything" (as though these weren't already overworked cliches 50 years ago), and ultimately realize that, hey, doing all the above isn't really a very fulfilling lifestyle. WHOA DEEP STUFF THERE MALICK. Meanwhile the camera pads out the runtime with screen saver nature footage and about 45 minutes worth of people staring dully out of windows, which I'm pretty sure Terrence Malick insists on as a contractual requirement in all his movies.

Overall it's very very slow, very dull, and nowhere near as profound as it pretends to be (when you dig past the slick surface it's actually a very low-rent, trashy storyline worthy of a Skinemax direct-to-TV special). I'm only giving it a couple points because the cast was very attractive and the cinematography was pretty great, so at least you have something nice to look at as you watch these self-absorbed hipsters flail around idiotically (sometimes quite literally) for what seems like 5 hours.… Expand

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

HannahK

Oct 7, 2017

I'm really at a loss as to what to say about Song To Song except that this must be a career nadir from a once excellent director. Pretentious twaddle masquerading as something deep and meaningful. Truly awful.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

goodmovies12

Aug 11, 2017

a new entry in my top worst movies. i couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculously artistically forced scenes every damn second, the biggest failure of any European wannabe movie where non-european directors just can't make it naturally. what is worse is that over 50% of the audience in ana new entry in my top worst movies. i couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculously artistically forced scenes every damn second, the biggest failure of any European wannabe movie where non-european directors just can't make it naturally. what is worse is that over 50% of the audience in an international movie festival in Europe just couldn't stop laughing! and that started in the first 20 minutes. what a waste of good actors and what an epic fail!… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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