Two films today; one I was cautious about and ended up blowing me away, the other one which I had high expectations for, and was let down by miserably.

The New World
Terrence Malick 2005 US (1st time; big screen)
The first English settlers in America find themselves at odds with the Natives, and are saved by the rival king's youngest daughter, who falls in love with Captain John Smith.
Thoroughly captivating stuff from a meticulous artist; exploring themes of love, nature and the contrast between two civilisations, one free and content at its own introversion, the other curious and explorative, and both primitive in their own way, it is a beautiful work from start to finish. A period piece which feels like it could have been made before Cinema existed or even some time in the future, and a reconstruction of historical myth more interesting as a fictional work, it is a remarkably complex and warmly compelling film.

Bad Timing
Nicolas Roeg 1980 UK (1st time)
A psychoanalyst is grilled by a policeman about the mysterious attempted suicide of an estranged divorcee.
Roeg's psychosexual melodrama is undone, surprisingly, by the director's own style: the usual back-and-forth editing obscures to the point of frustration, and while Don't Look Now maintained a kind of intimate interest in its characters, this despairing work is cold enough to render the whole thing uninteresting.