Tree of Life

[jimd]

Anyone see this movie?

My wife and I make it a point to try to see as many of the Academy Award nominated movies as we can. We hit the video store last weekend to see what they had. We saw Tree of Life on the shelf. It was made by Terrance Mallick, who did The Thin Red Line, which we both really liked, so we grabbed it. As I'm standing there browsing with the movie in my hand, I notice this guy look me up and down and really check out what movie I had. At first he didn't say anything, but he couldn't hold back. He came up to me and told me what a crap movie it was and proceded to recommend a couple of better ones. Knowing it was a Terrance Mallick movie and the fact that he recommend a big action flick I figured he just didn't like this type of film and blew him off. We also picked up Moneyball and watched that first.

Well we watched Tree of Life last night. I can't decide if it was ok, or a pile of pretentious crap. I'm leaning towards crap. I don't think anyone can convince me it was more than just ok. I liked the cinematography and generally like "arty" movies, but holy crap could you be any more vague? Even when there was some sort of narrative going on you couldn't figure out what it was. At the end my wife started to tear up (not unusual for any type of movie - she cried at Terminator 2), and I said "how can you cry, you don't even know what the hell is going on?"

I'd love to hear someone else's opinion.

[ROADMAN]

YOU'LL be crying after Moneyball for wasting your money....and thanks for the heads up on "Tree of Life"....

[telex76]

I thought you were going to talk about getting a fancy inlay on your fretboard.

[jmaul]

Well, before going into it, it is pretty easy to know if you will like it.
Here you go:

Tree Of Life is a very long, visually beautiful movie with no plot and multiple settings whose purpose is to invoke feelings of nostalgia and get you thinking about the universe, the purpose of life, and your family.

Did that sound good? That will pretty much dictate if you like it or not.
I think it is a great piece of artistic film, and is more of an experience than entertainment. I can absolutely see how 80+% of the people that see it do not like it.

[jimd]

Roadman: I sort of liked Moneyball. It wasn't great, but I was entertained. Of all the Oscar nominated movies this year, none of them really stand out to me as great.

jmaul: After thinking about Tree of Life some more I've come to the conclusion that I would have liked it a lot more with just a little bit more of a coherent narrative of the family. I kept wanting to understand more of what was going on with them. You know right away one of the sons dies, but for the life of me I didn't know which one, and I didn't know which one grew up to be Sean Penn. I was frustrated.

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by jimd

Roadman: I sort of liked Moneyball. It wasn't great, but I was entertained. Of all the Oscar nominated movies this year, none of them really stand out to me as great.

jmaul: After thinking about Tree of Life some more I've come to the conclusion that I would have liked it a lot more with just a little bit more of a coherent narrative of the family. I kept wanting to understand more of what was going on with them. You know right away one of the sons dies, but for the life of me I didn't know which one, and I didn't know which one grew up to be Sean Penn. I was frustrated.

There was so much whispering in the film that about 20 minutes in I suggested that we turn the subtitles on - big help. The subtitles identified who was saying what over the visuals and really helped to tie things together. I was kind of prepared because it was Terrence Malic film, so I was not surprised by its "different-ness," but as mentioned, I could see how someone would give up on if a more standard Hollywood movie was expected. I loved the visual delivery, but that's a Terrence Malic strong point. He tried to tell a *huge* story and for the most part, I think he was successful.

[voodoo_idol]

I know a lot of people didn't like Tree of Life, and I wouldn't try to talk anyone into it, but I thought it was very good and emotionally moving. Just a point of reference, it's rated 7/10 on IMDB and 84% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so clearly there has been a critical consensus that the movie is pretty good.

I liked The Thin Red Line better, but I would rank that in my top 5 movies of all time. One thing with Malick's style, he can convey an important point with few or no words, just by how a scene is composed. Case in point: the scene with the bird struggling in the grass in the middle of battle, or shots of Melanesian children playing in the river (both in TTRL) convey the whole point of that movie more effectively than the characters' dialog. Of course, that requires the viewer to be intellectually engaged with the film, so it's not light fare.

[telemystix]

I thought the movie wasn't too bad...but I strongly feel that this was one instance where a directors cut would have been more appropriate...

The regular movie featuring the family story...

The Directors cut adding all the "beginning of the universe" visuals...

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by telemystix

I thought the movie wasn't too bad...but I strongly feel that this was one instance where a directors cut would have been more appropriate...

The regular movie featuring the family story...

The Directors cut adding all the "beginning of the universe" visuals...

There were two versions? We got whatever Netflix sent us, and it included all the "beginning of the universe" visuals. I'd love to see this film in a movie theater.

[BigDaddyLH]

Now you got me interested. I'm going to rent the film the next time I see it.

[Telesavalis]

If I could get Terrence Malick's mailing address I'd send him a bill...

for two hours of my time that he wasted with Tree of Life.

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by Telesavalis

If I could get Terrence Malick's mailing address I'd send him a bill...

for two hours of my time that he wasted with Tree of Life.

This thread seems to reflect the general consensus of the Netflix reviews - pretty much love it or hate it, with very few in betweeners. Terrence Malick is a lot like David Lynch imo - singular and unique vision, oftentimes very challenging to watch, sometimes I just don't get it, but overall I'll check it out because I mostly like what I'm seeing. Very definitely YMMV.

[Bones]

The tree of life is watered by the dog of reality.

[jimd]

Here's another description of the movie that I've come up with. Someone likened it to 2001 a Space Odyssey. In my mind it is sort of like that movie except without the cool story about the astronauts. For me in 2001, the saga of Dave and Hal tied everything together. In Tree of Life, the story of the family was too disjointed to do the same.

I saw this on wikipedia and totally agree:
Sean Penn has said, "The screenplay is the most magnificent one that I've ever read but I couldn't find that same emotion on screen. [...] A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact." He further clarified his reservations about the film by adding, "But it’s a film I recommend, as long as you go in without any preconceived ideas. It’s up to each person to find their own personal, emotional or spiritual connection to it. Those that do generally emerge very moved."

[telemystix]

Originally Posted by Bernie

There were two versions? We got whatever Netflix sent us, and it included all the "beginning of the universe" visuals. I'd love to see this film in a movie theater.

...I said a directors cut---would have been more appropriate---

don't think there is another version....

I guess I should have said that I would have liked to see a version that ONLY showed the family story...and NOT the universe stuff...

[telleutelleme]

I went into it without any pre-conceived ideas and came out without any new ideas. I guess I'm too old for these types of films. I don't want to have to think so hard that my brain hurts and I don't get to enjoy the popcorn.