The Tree of Life
1950s-set drama from filmmaking master Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line), starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Winner of the Palme d'Or (Best Film) at Cannes Film Festival 2011.
An impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s, the film follows the life of eldest son, Jack (Penn, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Pitt) while questioning the existence of faith. "Malick draws a picture of family life as archetypal as a child’s questions about God, and connects it all to rapturous visions of the origins of the universe and the end of time." (NZ International Film Festival 2011)
- Director:
- Terrence Malick ('The New World', 'The Thin Red Line', 'Days of Heaven', 'Badlands')
- Writer:
- Terrence Malick
- Cast:
- Brad PittSean PennFiona ShawJoanna GoingJessica ChastainKari Matchett
Reviews & comments
UNIQUE !
If you have read a few reviews of this film you would have guessed you'd either love or hate it, either way you'll have a strong reaction. I just had a look at FLICKS viewers reviews, and find it amusing that all the bad reviews are from people who don't or hardly ever review films, and the good ones are from obvious movie fanatics with numerous reviews...
Turn up, tune in and trip out...
If you surrender to 'Tree of Life' as a slow, meandering, meditation on, well, life, then you're in for a visual, audio and cerebal treat. Like Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' though - if you go in expecting a traditional linear narrative or Hollywood's standard big screen fare - you're gonna find this pretentious and dull. For me? It's...
At times beautiful, but equally frustrating
I wish I could write as eloquently as others above, but all the same - here goes. . . . Whilst this was visually stunning, I found the flashing forward / flashing backward frustrating. I also have to admit that I was confused about what was going on, and what I was supposed to be referencing. The "story" kicks off about 1 hour in and as I tend to...
Grace & Nature
Astonishing in its visuals and soundscape, this movie just screams arthouse. That doesn't necessarily make a masterpiece, but I think in this instance a great film has come out of it. Its ambitious in its scope (hey not many folk would stick a 20 minute visual segment about the origins of earth in the middle of a story about family and love. Lots of reviews...
Variety
pressResult is pure-grade art cinema destined primarily for the delectation of Malick partisans and adventurous arthouse-goers.
Total Film
pressTerrence Malick’s spiritual odyssey is baffling, unique and overspilling with wonder.
The New York Times
pressWith disarming sincerity and daunting formal sophistication The Tree of Life ponders some of the hardest and most persistent questions, the kind that leave adults speechless when children ask them.
Sunday Star-Times
pressIt is clear there are religious themes and while watching this film we are supposed to ponder the big questions, like what is the meaning of life?
Roger Ebert
pressThe only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling.
Los Angeles Times
pressWhile Malick's great ability holds us for a time, it is finally not enough to compensate for a lack of dramatic involvement - those eschatological quandaries tend to overwhelm the story. The Tree of Life, its enormous advantages notwithstanding, ends up a film that demands to be admired but cannot be easily embraced.
Hollywood Reporter
pressA beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables, asks the questions that religious and thoughtful people have posed for millennia and provokes expansive philosophical musings along with intense personal introspection.
Empire Magazine
pressThere is simply nothing like it out there: profound, idiosyncratic, complex, sincere and magical; a confirmation that cinema can aspire to art.
A.V. Club
pressIn terms of scale, The Tree Of Life recalls the mammoth ambition of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," but it's also more intimate and personal than Malick's previous films, rooted in vivid memories of growing up in '50s Texas.
Variety
pressResult is pure-grade art cinema destined primarily for the delectation of Malick partisans and adventurous arthouse-goers.
Total Film
pressTerrence Malick’s spiritual odyssey is baffling, unique and overspilling with wonder.
The New York Times
pressWith disarming sincerity and daunting formal sophistication The Tree of Life ponders some of the hardest and most persistent questions, the kind that leave adults speechless when children ask them.
Sunday Star-Times
pressIt is clear there are religious themes and while watching this film we are supposed to ponder the big questions, like what is the meaning of life?
Roger Ebert
pressThe only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling.
Los Angeles Times
pressWhile Malick's great ability holds us for a time, it is finally not enough to compensate for a lack of dramatic involvement - those eschatological quandaries tend to overwhelm the story. The Tree of Life, its enormous advantages notwithstanding, ends up a film that demands to be admired but cannot be easily embraced.
Hollywood Reporter
pressA beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables, asks the questions that religious and thoughtful people have posed for millennia and provokes expansive philosophical musings along with intense personal introspection.
Empire Magazine
pressThere is simply nothing like it out there: profound, idiosyncratic, complex, sincere and magical; a confirmation that cinema can aspire to art.
A.V. Club
pressIn terms of scale, The Tree Of Life recalls the mammoth ambition of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," but it's also more intimate and personal than Malick's previous films, rooted in vivid memories of growing up in '50s Texas.
UNIQUE !
If you have read a few reviews of this film you would have guessed you'd either love or hate it, either way you'll have a strong reaction. I just had a look at FLICKS viewers reviews, and find it amusing that all the bad reviews are from people who don't or hardly ever review films, and the good ones are from obvious movie fanatics with numerous reviews...
Turn up, tune in and trip out...
If you surrender to 'Tree of Life' as a slow, meandering, meditation on, well, life, then you're in for a visual, audio and cerebal treat. Like Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' though - if you go in expecting a traditional linear narrative or Hollywood's standard big screen fare - you're gonna find this pretentious and dull. For me? It's...
At times beautiful, but equally frustrating
I wish I could write as eloquently as others above, but all the same - here goes. . . . Whilst this was visually stunning, I found the flashing forward / flashing backward frustrating. I also have to admit that I was confused about what was going on, and what I was supposed to be referencing. The "story" kicks off about 1 hour in and as I tend...
Grace & Nature
Astonishing in its visuals and soundscape, this movie just screams arthouse. That doesn't necessarily make a masterpiece, but I think in this instance a great film has come out of it. Its ambitious in its scope (hey not many folk would stick a 20 minute visual segment about the origins of earth in the middle of a story about family and love. Lots of...
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