Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life

[toothsomesound]

that's very interesting that you somehow interpreted sean penn as the boy who died. however there is fairly clear dialogue between penn and the father about the dead brother, being that the jumping off point for the film seems to be Jack/Penn reminiscing and pondering the nature of life and his experience/feelings/memories particularly with regard to his family on the anniversary of his brother's death.

 

[Costanza]

Originally Posted by Lord-Barrington

It doesn't surprise me that a lot of people are walking out of what is essentially an experimental/art house film that has piqued popular interest due to its big name stars and success at Cannes. I can name a number of films, many of which are terrific, that would probably be more difficult to sit through for the average filmgoer than "The Tree of Life". The bigger story for me isn't Malick's failure to capture the attention of an audience his film wasn't targeted for but rather the failure of his film to actually be what it was intended to be.

We sat through the whole thing, but were bored. I didn't find it experimental at all, just pop-science pompous. There might have been a film in there, but the juxtaposition of the microcosmic narrative parts with the endless macrocosmic life-of-the-universe could have been done with more economy or left on the floor. It didn't add to the film at all.

The interesting parts for me were the human/moral parts, and my field laptop background sums up the rest succintly:

 

[Costanza]

oh yeah, and the CGI dinosaurs made us giggle.

 

[imageWIS]



I saw it June 24,I was one of 3 people in the theater when it was over. So many people got up and left. When I left the theater the couple who sat the movie out asked for a refund.

I don't think the vast majority of people who will see it in the upcoming weeks will 'get it'. It is incredibly ambitious, visually appealing, but could have been executed differently. I will see it again, and honestly I hope it cleans up at awards. It deserved the Palm d' Or, and anything else it receives considering the utter swill that's been released recently.

Funny you mention that, since Sean Penn didn't 'get it' either:

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.

I finally got around to seeing the film and did not like it. I felt it was trying way too hard to be a cross between 2001 and Fantasia without getting anywhere close. While the cinematography was stunning, nor the script, the narrative, or concepts were at the level of the cinematography. I am a big fan of utilizing non-CGI effects, such as in The Fountain, but at least the The Fountain, which was not a 'good' film had a contextual vision which The Tree of Life is lacking. There are other aspects that I found laughable, such as showing the 4.6 billion years of the forming of the earth, dawn of life, dinosaurs with empathy (when is the last time you saw a bird with empathy?), and then suddenly making everything about god a-la Intelligent Design. Also, the beach 'heaven' scene only helps to solidify the utter nonsense that is the concept of heaven.

 

[Lighthouse]

Saw the movie on DVD. Made sense to me because I was not trying to "interpret" it. I enjoy movies like this and will see Melancholia tomorrow. I assumed the younger brother died in Viet Nam, and the scene with the bb gun in the woods reinforced that assumption.

 

[1969]

Finally saw this last night and was pleased, but then I'm a fanboy. A quick google search yields rumor of a 6 hour directors cut in the works. :foo: