A gorgeous, dreamlike meditation on the alchemy of cultures, landscapes and forbidden love. I was going to rate this an “A-” but I cannot deny that I came away wishing for a little more of a punch to the gut in terms of understanding the characters. I got that in Malick’s similar (on a formal level) “The Thin Red Line” and “Days of Heaven,” but not here. That being said, I was kinda so-so on “Thin Red Line” the first time I saw it. The second and third times I was convinced of its absolute genius. So who knows what I’ll say when I see the 3 hr cut on DVD? Some remarkable things about “The New World” — Even though there is very little dialogue, there are hardly any long takes. Cuts come at a furious rate, and there are very few sequences. Each shot is like its own little world, independent of the shot before and after it. When dozens of these are strung together it forms something that isn’t a sequence and isn’t a montage. . . and the heavy-duty voice over (which many critics have poo-pooed, but I’m cool with) just kinda spills over it. Far out. On a very prima facie level, there’s just a lot of images of a young Indian girl hopping in Nature, and a few dozen interchangable tribesmen and settlers. How did Malick know this would all come together? Better yet — how did he convince anyone to invest money in this film? And what did a shot list look like? “Day 15 — AM — Today we shoot walking through the trees and glancing at each other, then lunch?” I am in awe of this movie, but I’m not sure I connect with it totally. Ann Farrell, by the way, was over-the-moon for it, graded it at “A,” said it didn’t feel long at all and eagerly awaits the 3 hr cut.