A couple of years ago Terrence Malick lent his producing muscle to the Abraham Lincoln coming-of-age film, The Better Angels. And if you didn't know it was actually directed by A.J. Edwards, an editor on To the Wonder and Knight of Cups, you might think Malick was at the helm himself. Certainly it had Malick's distinctly lyrical, melodic visual sense, and it seems he likes backing movies that clearly mimic his style. Such is the case with The Vessel, directed by another Malick associate, Julio Quintana.
Quintana, a consultant on To the Wonder is joined by that film's composer Hanan Townshend for a film that stars Martin Sheen as a man who builds a mysterious structure out of the remains of a smalltown elementary school destroyed by a tidal wave ten years earlier. Once again this looks like a Malick project all the way, even though the cinematographer is Santiago Benet Mari, who has never worked with him before.
The Vessel opens September 16th.
