Friday, June 17, 2011 at 6:16PM Movie Review: 'The Tree of Life'
| Tree of Life
Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn
|
How do you even begin in describing The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick? “An ambitious, if not sublime, representation of life as an everlasting cosmic entity and an important aspect of human life”, by that description I’ve already made the film seem heavy handed, but don't waver on deciding whether or not to see the film. It's beautiful, funny, terrifying and a strange depiction of a family in the 1950s. Some reviews have likened it to providing a sense of enlightenment by its meditative nature and to think that I (selfishly) wanted to let the film live on its own, without the need of contextualizing it in words.
Don’t worry, there are human actors as well in the film and to say that the performances are truthful and reminiscent of your own life is to say the least. Brad Pitt plays Mr. O'Brien, a tough-as-nails father to three young boys who, more often than not, wants his boys to become men and without and doesn't quickly realize he's pushing them away emotionally. Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) is a presence of forgiveness, of life and love to her children, constantly racked with a need to love her boys unconditionally, even though a young Jack (Hunter McCracken) seeks the approval of both his parents. Defiant to his father, Jack begins a journey on his loss of innocence and Sean Penn portrays an older Jack, in the present time, surrounded by modernized landscapes of skyscrapers and working in glass-encased building, where a sole tree sits in front of the building.
It’s hard to further detail the story without spoiling the beginning, middle and end of a film whose importance is the journey of experience and acceptance of what life, and subsequently death, can provide you. Surely, its documentation on the beginnings of life, from basic molecular structure to water, dinosaurs and eventually humans, represents an undertaking whose magnitude is almost encompassing of life itself. That is to say that there’s a particular sequence that evokes a sort of ephemeral or spiritual guidance into an afterlife surrounded by those you loved and lost, even from those that acted as an opposing force while growing up.
Apart from story, the film has dazzling and captivating visuals that immerse you with ease into the narrative of depicting the creation and destruction of a cosmic universe through displays of birth and collapse of stars and galaxies. The digitally created visuals are crisp and so vividly alive rather than being obvious and poorly executed, it’s a wonder how much time and effort was put by Malick and his post-production team in executing his vision.
Certainly, filming the life of the O’Brien family, including the boys and their neighborhood friends was quiet intimate and yet, never felt like it was happening to this one family. It created and reminded (myself especially) that this was our life, that we have experienced this ourselves, that those kids and that neighborhood was our childhood, our past, present and what hopefully can be our future. A graceful and intuitive representation of youth, parenting and the struggles and tribulations that follow us everywhere we go.
Obviously this is a simple and easy way to describe a film without great detail, but it’s a necessary one. Terrence Malick has created a film so vivid, rich in scoping wonders that one has to experience the film by watching it rather than just reading about. I attended the premiere of Tree of Life in Montreal as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 and was surprised by the effect it had on me. A friend rightfully stated that it’s as if the film itself doesn’t want to be contextualized into words, but rather an experience and almost in an ironic manner that it’s telling us to go outside and appreciate the wonders of nature rather than stay indoors separated from it.
Reader Comments (12)
Seen it twice since it came out last Friday in Arizona. Amazing film.
Simple quiz to help you recommend this film.
Have you seen a Terrence Malick film? If no don't go. If yes see next question.
Did you enjoy the film you saw? If no don't go. If yes go.
Most likely you have seen 2001 A Space Odyssey, were you bored? If no go, If yes don't go.
This is how I have been recommending the film to my friends. But most my friends have been forced to watch The Thin Red Line and The New World. So that's the easy part.
It is odd how many people under thirty find 2001 boring and horrible and most likely never finished watching it. What the hell people!
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YES!!!!
"Grey, my friend, is every theory / And green is Life’s golden tree." (Faust)
I recommend this review on the condition that one go only without preconceptions about Malick:
http://reviewingtreeoflife.blogspot.com/
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I really thought this movie was so good. I was not disappointed at all with the movie. There is so many great actors in the film. Keep up the good work. Criminal lawyer Toronto