‘Better Angels’ — Lincoln and Malick in black-and-white

Starring Jason Clarke, Brit Marling, Diane Kruger and Braydon Denney. Directed by A. J. Edwards.

Rated PG for thematic elements and brief smoking. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Bottom line: The story of Lincoln's life is a repetitive, hit-and-miss affair

By Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

“The Better Angels” has bursts of life — moving, poetic moments of a kind that you won’t find in any other film this year — but it can’t honestly be described as a success. A movie can’t be a success if it makes the audience wish it were over, and with this noble effort, the wishes start rising to heaven after about an hour.

Yet “The Better Angels” is a kind of movie that should be encouraged, because this is, in essence, a Terrence Malick film that wasn’t directed by Terrence Malick. It was produced by Malick but written and directed by A.J. Edwards, who has worked on Malick’s last three films, serving as editor on “To The Wonder.”

“The Better Angels” concerns itself with Abraham Lincoln’s childhood and the two women who had the biggest influence on his life. But the artistic question that hovers over the project is whether the Malick approach to filmmaking can be exported. Is he sui generis, or could he spawn a whole movement? I’d prefer to believe the latter, but after “The Better Angels,” the jury is still out.

Shot in black-and-white, the film tells the story of the Lincoln family, from their early days in Indiana, through the death of Abe’s beloved mother, Nancy (Brit Marling), and the early months or years (it’s hard to tell) with his warm and encouraging stepmother, Sarah (Diane Kruger). We first see black silhouettes against a white sky, the Lincolns with the sun behind them. Soon, Edwards is shooting from the ground, looking up into the trees, Malick style.

The first actual conversation in the movie, just a few exchanges, takes place 11 minutes in, but by then — through visuals accompanied by voiceovers, or musical passages — much emotional information has conveyed. We understand that the family’s life is a daily struggle for existence played out in the middle of nowhere. We understand the character of Lincoln’s mother, who is religious, devoted to her son and, despite being poor and illiterate, highly intelligent.

The story of Lincoln’s childhood, as presented in “The Better Angels,” is the story of how two very fine mothers made up for a father who said things like, “The boy has more to learn here than a schoolhouse.” Apparently, honest Abe wasn’t the first or last man whose path to success had to be navigated around having a jerk for a father.

The only problem with “The Better Angels” is that it’s not nimble enough to vary its strategy or to find ways for the character of young Abe (Braydon Denney) to grow over the course of the movie. Once Abe gets a couple of stepbrothers, it even becomes hard to track which little kid is Abe. When the camera does linger on him, it’s just a kid there. It’s hard to see Lincoln.

And so, after a strong first 20 minutes, “The Better Angels” becomes a repetitive, hit-and-miss affair. Still, as imitation Malick goes—as the first film in a potential Malick school—this is not a bad start.