Tree of Life

[EthanRunt]

That, erm, yep.
I concur.

[Jayman]

If you believe a film can be pretentious and genius at the same time, The Tree of Life may well be for you. Anyone else will have to make a decision.

Your review is dead-on. I absolutely hated it...heck, I damn near fell asleep during the opening 20 minute history lesson which was clearly inspired by "2001:A Space Odyssey". I'm thankful the rest of the movie wasn't quite as boring, but the p*y-off was a tad too challenging to fully comprehend.[spoiler]Was that some fantasy / dream sequence at the end?[/spoiler]This brought to mind the exact feeling I had when I finished watching "The Fountain". Overall, I thought it looked damn good (especially on the Odeon Digital 8000-HD) but I did not enjoy it one bit.

[raj101]

films like this need a directors cut, i am thinking. The fountain certainly, it looks like its been cut to hell to please the playstation generation into just a series of short disjointed scenes.

[Jayman]

films like this need a directors cut, i am thinking. The fountain certainly, it looks like its been cut to hell to please the playstation generation into just a series of short disjointed scenes.

Funny you should say that. Terence Malick is currently preparing a 6 hour director's cut of this movie. Yes, that's right. 6 f**king hours.
Link:http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/terr ... tree-life/

[raj101]

lol i'd watch if if it was more profound, for sure.

[EthanRunt]

He's gonna try and release that? Cos I know he was working with that cut for a long time last year, but they're gonna try and bring that out, or is it like the fabled 4 hour Thin Red Line?

[raj101]

if it was just pants i wouldnt watch it of course.

[Jayman]

lol i'd watch if if it was more profound, for sure.

I'll bet 5 more of those hours will come from an expanded "creation of the Earth" opening sequence. ;-)

[raj101]

lol i'd watch if if it was more profound, for sure.

I'll bet 5 more of those hours will come from an expanded "creation of the Earth" opening sequence. ;-)

I have sat thru 'Dude wheres my car?' twice, but that would take the cake. i have limits.

edit - better add LOL

[kevinknapman]

Went to see this yesterday. A film that manages to be equal parts compelling, infuriating, incredibly beautiful and achingly pretentious. The study of a family in 50's Texas is among the best stuff that Malick has ever done. With both Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain excellent as the parents. The kids are all great too especially Hunter McCracken. It goes without saying that it's visually impressive and Emmanuel Lubezki cinematography is flawless.
I was less taken with the attempts to give this story universal, even cosmic significance and I found these scenes a little distracting (despite amazing work from both Lubezki and visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey)). Also the shots of Sean Penn wandering around a city looking pained and troubled were slightly tedious and overly pretentious (even for Malick).
The Tree of Life is not an easy film to love on first viewing, though it's an easy one to admire. I love Malick and Days of Heaven is one of my all-time favourite films but I'm unsure about this. It occasionally veers a little closely to parody, especially with Malick's use of his traditional voice-over. I expect I'll revisit it at some point (probably on blu-ray) and may well have a different reaction to it.