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Knight of Cups  (DVD)

0/10

Stars: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Wes Bentley, Isabel Lucas, Teresa Palmer, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Freida Pinto, Cherry Jones. Voice: Ben Kingsley

Director: Terrence Malick

Malick again serves up another stew of superbly photographed (Emmanuel Lubezki), superbly pretentious cinema whose clearly large budget enticed a galaxy of stars to waste their (and my) time and whose screenplay (by Malick) was apparently catalyzed, titled and created around tarot cards.

Malick’s cajoled cast includes Christian Bale (depressingly uninteresting, especially after his great work in The Big Short), Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy and Antonio Banderas. Wes Bentley, Frieda Pinto and Imogen Poots are also featured, plus Ben Kingsley but serendipitously, only as a voice.

Los Angeles screenwriter Bale wanders around looking for “something other, something beyond the life he knows, without knowing quite what it is, or how to go about finding it. He doesn’t know which way to turn”.

Just like Malick and his cast who, as the movie drags on apparently with not an end in sight, also do not know way to turn.

Alan Frank

USA 2015. UK Distributor: StudioCanal. Colour.
113 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.

Review date: 20 Aug 2016