For the uninitiated on the greatest living director Terrence Malick and his masterpiece, The Tree of Life: The film is about a man, Jack O’Brien, who, during a midlife crisis brought on by the anniversary of the death of his younger brother, reflects on his childhood, which takes up most of the movie, and of humanity's place in the universe, which gives Malick a chance to show the birth and end of the universe along with his visions of God and an afterlife. The movie seeks to encompass all of life...
Writing about most movies is fairly simple. I watch the movie, feel a certain way about it, have clearly identifiable ideas because of it. The emotions have names; the ideas come in the form of words. I organize those words into a coherent whole and I'm done.
The Tree of Life is not most movies. I have watched it over ten times and never once thought of something I could write that would properly reflect my admiration of (and whole-hearted devotion to) it.
My thoughts concerning The Tree of Life have been so difficult to write because the experience of watching it, I think, cannot be adequately explained or contained by a single language. A great number of films are beholden to their scripts. They could essentially work as novels; The Tree of Life could only ever work (for me, at least) as a film.
A theme of the movie, and of the latest period in Malick's career (as can be seen in The New World), is the inadequacy of language and the inability of verbal communication to bring people together. His films are full of the whispered thoughts of characters who feel misunderstood. "I want to be where they are," says Jack of his brothers after his loss of innocence. But he can't convey that to anyone but himself, and even then, his words only provide clues as to what he's feeling. Most of the information comes from his rash and violent actions, his body language and his desperate looks.
As soon as I start watching it, The Tree of Life evokes memories in me; every time, it taps into my subconscious and brings back images, sounds, smells, even textures. The wealth of low angle shots, always looking up with a child's marvelous curiosity, instantly transport me. When I watch The Tree of Life, I'm at my grandmother's house drinking iced tea and playing in the yard with my brother and my cousins. The Tree of Life takes me to a place I have not been to in years and will likely never visit again. For that, I am eternally grateful.
I’m grateful for:
Father (Brad Pitt), a force of nature, stern, but ever-loving. Mother (Jessica Chastain), pure love, perfection. Both actors, both characters, stunningly convincing, never striking a wrong note.
Jack (Hunter McKraken) the boy who, on the brink of adulthood, honestly wrestles with the questions every child must one day face.
Jack (Sean Penn) the tired, lost man who turns to God when his life no longer makes sense.
R.L (Laramie Eppler), the true personification of what the film calls "grace," who unified a family through pure goodness of heart.
I am grateful for:
The production designer, Jack Fisk, who got every detail from the chairs, tables and water glasses, to the decoration of the home, right, and who succeeded in making the sets specific enough for this particular story to work and generic enough to transport anyone back to his childhood home.
The special effects supervisor, Douglas Trumbull, who gave his breathtaking, awe-inspiring account of the creation of the universe, even more memorable, if that is possible, than his images from "2001"
The composer, Alexander Desplat, whose tear inducing melodies (in a good way) stand their ground against the masterful music of Bach, Berlioz, and Mozart, just to name a few.
The cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, who proved that celluloid film lives, that handheld camera movements do not have to equal visual disorientation and, most importantly, who, by using only available light, showed the infinite wonders inherent in the natural world.
Finally, I am grateful for (and to) the writer, director, poet, philosopher, theologian, humanist, Terrence Malick, who brought together all of this talent and proved that there is room for thoughtful, meditative films in the otherwise barren landscape of modern mainstream cinema.
Tree of Life (2011) 2h 19min PG-13
Verdict- 4/4
Directed by Terrence Malick
Other pieces concerning The Tree of Life that are worth reading:
by Omer Mozaffar: http://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/reaching-for-love-above-falling-dominos
by Roger Ebert: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-tree-of-life-2011
by Jeffrey Overstreet: http://theotherjournal.com/filmwell/2011/11/05/accept-no-substitutes-with-the-tree-of-life-its-blu-ray-or-the-big-screen/
and finally the reason I finally got around to writing about this film is that according to its cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and its editor Billy Webber, Malick is working on a “director’s cut” which is reportedly around 6hrs and could come out as early as 2014!
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