Thomas Lennon, best known for Reno 911!, is one of a billion celebrities who flit through Knight of Cups, Terrence Malick’s Los Angeles–set latest. There’s Dan Harmon! There’s Nick Offerman! There’s Joe Manganiello! There’s that guy who played that nerd in Buffy! All of these cameos almost make bits of Knight of Cups feel like a Woody Allen movie—until you remember that while Allen cranks out a movie a year, Knight of Cups is Malick’s seventh in 43 years.
But Malick’s filmography is an unfuckwithable argument for quality over quantity. Those seven films—including Knight of Cups—are remarkable, evocative experiences, from his more plot-focused early work, Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978), to his sprawling, impressionistic efforts in The Tree of Life (2011) and To the Wonder (2012). Part of why Malick’s films are so challenging is because they don’t have any analogues: Nobody else is able (or willing) to strike such a balance between beauty (it’s nearly impossible not to be gobsmacked by the visuals) and philosophy (it’s also nearly impossible not to be overwhelmed by the melancholy of existence)…