Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #49. Terrence Malick’s Radegund

Radegund

American auteur Terrence Malick makes our foreign films list with the German produced Radegund, which documents the exploits of conscientious objector Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl), an Austrian who refused to fight the Nazis during WWII. While hopefully less patronizing than Mel Gibson’s similar religious themed comeback Hacksaw Ridge, this is a notable divorce from procedure in Malick’s recent filmography, which has devolved into narrative abstractions ever since 2011’s Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Life. Malick has assembled a notable Euro list of male actors outside of Diehl (fresh off playing Karl Marx for Raoul Peck), including Swiss icon Bruno Ganz, Germany’s Jurgen Prochnow and Alexander Fehling, Belgium star Matthias Schoenaerts, and Sweden’s Michael Nyqvist in one of his final film roles prior to his death in June of 2017. This is also Malick’s first narrative feature not to be lensed by Emmanuel Lubezki since 1998’s The Thin Red Line (DP Jorg Widmer marks his first stint with Malick for Radegund).

Release Date/Prediction: Malick has won the Palme d’Or (The Tree of Life, 2011) and Best Director (Days of Heaven, 1978) at Cannes, and took home the Golden Bear in Berlin for The Thin Red Line (1998). He’s competed twice in Venice, with 2012’s To the Wonder and 2016’s Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey). Although he was also recently in Berlin with 2015’s Knight of Cups (read ★★★★½ review) and went to SXSW for 2017’s Song to Song, we’re assuming Thierry Frémaux will lasso Radegund for his third time in the Cannes competition.