The Tree of Life

[K9]

Trailer

A new film from Terrence Malick, who directed The Thin Red Line amongst other things. I have no idea what to make of it; on the face of it it looks like quite a powerful film, but it's hard to say.

[Hawkbit]

At face value it reminded me of Aronofsky's "The Fountain". 

[Soln]

I've seen several stories lately about this film.  Anthony Lane's review in the New Yorker

[Sand]

At face value it reminded me of Aronofsky's "The Fountain". 

^ This and having watched the trailer allow me to guess at the plot "My dad was loving but had problems with showing affection and tried to make me a tough "man". Consequently this led to me having teen angst and rebellion, and relationship issues. Now as an older man myself as the world ends I learn to forgive him and realize none of that shit mattered. The end."

Wont be seeing this overly wrought angsty art house flop.

[Hawkbit]

Actually, I rather enjoyed the imagery in both movies.  I'll see anything that looks even remotely different than the 98% of the Hollywood drudge out there. 

Interested, but not excited.  I can't remember the last movie I was excited about.  Maybe Star Wars Ep1??  And I remember how that turned out.

[Tale]

Terrence Malick makes beautiful films. They always have moments that capture the wind, the light, or something in nature, observed like nobody else does. Like in The Thin Red Line where you see moments of blades of grass and animals as the war goes on around them. Or in Days of Heaven where every day looks like it was filmed just at sunset (it was).

I'd watch it just for that. Generally the movie is great too.

[FatuousTwat]

I really liked The Thin Red Line, too bad it was released really close to Saving Private Ryan(an inferior movie, IMHO).

[Khaldun]

The visual quality of his films is good enough, but I also think he has a really distinctive aesthetic. Not for everyone, sure, but I appreciate someone who is willing to approach filmmaking in an original spirit, with a lot of honesty. I'm interested in seeing this.

[K9]

An interview with Brad Pitt about Terrence Malik and making the movie

I hadn't realised that this was shot before Inglorious Basterds.

[Minvaren]

NPR had a short on this film this afternoon - they mentioned that the film is getting about a 10% walkout percentage around the 20-30 minute mark due to not being what people expect.

[Mattemeo]

Visually poetic, beautifully shot with some mesmerising photography...

Unfortunately, there is no movie here. There might be a point to it all, left on the cutting room floor, but Tree of Life is a film where you could slowly peel back each layer, one by one, desperately hoping to find something to cogitate upon in the middle, but be left bereft. There is no point to Sean Penn's character existing in the movie. He serves to wander around exquisitely shot landscapes for absolutely no narrative purpose at all.
The less said about the half-hour Apple Mac screensaver reel that constitutes the 2nd quarter of the film, the better, really. Looked lovely, was meaningless.

Say something to me, Malick. Tell me a story. God knows the Coens nailed mid-20th Century American family life already, and with at least as esoteric and metaphorical stance.
Ultimately I'm glad I saw it, as a Malick movie is becoming an event in and of itself, but I seriously believe he lost sight of the bigger picture with this obvious labour of love and left it a pretentious but beautiful shell with little to cherish inside.

[Sand]

but I seriously believe he lost sight of the bigger picture with this obvious labour of love and left it a pretentious but beautiful shell with little to cherish inside.

That sums up all of his movies in my opinion.

[HaemishM]

^ This. ^ Unfortunately, because he's got the pretty part of movies down. Just not the whole storytelling part.

[Sand]

^ This. ^ Unfortunately, because he's got the pretty part of movies down. Just not the whole storytelling part.

Even the actors in the movie agree. 


quote from Sean Penn:

I didn't at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I've ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What's more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.

When one of your lead actors doesnt even understand what the point of his role was in the movie, you've got a problem.

[TheWalrus]

Hated Thin Red Line. One of three movies I've walked out on and it was free. Fucking awful.

[apocrypha]

I have just watched this. If you are American you may replace the word "arsehole" with the word "asshole" in the following review.

Brad Pitt plays an arsehole who is shitty to his kids while his wife comes to the realisation that if God exists then he is also an arsehole. Meanwhile the universe carries on, unaffected by any of these arseholes. Sean Penn wanders about a bit with an expression on his face that makes me think he has something stuck up his arsehole.

Terence Malick is an arsehole who owes me 2 hours 20 mins of my life back. Some of it was quite pretty though.

[lamaros]

Fucking awful film. Just really really shit. And I actually didn't mind a bit of The Thin Red Line.