Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 64 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico to discuss the next film in their Terrence Malick series, To the Wonder (2012).

A year after his most celebrated film was released, Malick returned with something new, experimental for even his own standards. The director had looked to turn away from even more traditional storytelling, filming hours on end, searching for the meaning of his film in the edit as he made his first contemporary setting about a couple’s troubled marriage. Mirroring a lot of his own personal life, Malick examines his role in his past marriage and in turn, makes one of his saddest, brutally open films of his filmography. Ryan, Jay, and Brian breakdown their feelings on the film, why it might be considered Malick’s least successful work, the weight of expectations a movie can have on its shoulders, the wild career of Benjamin Affleck, how faith and love are tested to their ultimate limits, and how the director sees himself in this film, and if he is successful in pointing the finger at his past transgressions to make a compelling narrative.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h38m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Terrence Malick with a review of his next film, Knight of Cups. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).