The Tree of Life

[Don Diego]

Dinosaur:(walking minding his own business see's a baby dinosaur lying down) Oh my next meal!
Baby dinosaur: Please Noooooo!
Dinosaur: Uhmm, no am pretty sure am going to eat you. (after abit of thought) Maybe not. (Some doubt) Ok I am. (EMERGENCE OF EMPATHY) Ok, made up my mind, I wont eat you. (Dinosaur walks away)

Pretty funny summary Luke! :)

It seems to me now that PTB have rewarded Malik;indeed he tried to make us think, in a very skilful way, that reptiles are capable of empathy, all of this wrapped in a cosmic maelström of nice pics with a pinch of family drama.Hope he's not aware and have not a hand in it but don't think so unfortunately;he's way too clever...

 

[Cuchulain]

I just watched the trailer, there wasn't much in the scenes and narration they chose to give any indication of the content being more than a movie about old school American family life, except for a couple of hints and based on the words of the OP, I can't wait to see this now.

It gave me the chills when they showed that truck driving by with men spraying gas clouds onto the sidewalks and yards of people's homes and kids dancing and playing in the smoke. All I caught from the truck were three big white letters, DDT... Showing both the innocence and naivety of Americana and the sinister secrets of the workings of the MIC.

There also seemed to be a spirit hovering in a child's room in one scene.

I Rarely, with a capital R, ever pay to go see a movie at the theater because of the crap that has been coming out for the past few years but this looks worth it!


It's going to be hard to drag myself away from the Wave Series though......

 

[Al Today]

kids dancing and playing in the smoke. All I caught from the truck were three big white letters, DDT...

Yep, that was me. I used to ride my bicycle behind that truck as it went up & down every street in the neighborhood. I still remember the smell. And there was relief because there were no mosquitoes in that smoke.

 

[Cuchulain]

kids dancing and playing in the smoke. All I caught from the truck were three big white letters, DDT...

Yep, that was me. I used to ride my bicycle behind that truck as it went up & down every street in the neighborhood. I still remember the smell. And there was relief because there were no mosquitoes in that smoke.

...Yeah... I probably would have done the same...

But seriously, it's creepy to see these images, back then the "Government" just did what they pleased and everybody simply accepted that they knew what they were doing and that they had the people's best interests in mind.

There's so much I'd like to know.......

 

[SeekinTruth]

I saw this movie back in July at the annual film festival, Golden Apricot, here in Yerevan Armenia. Well, it's very hard to describe the film, but it does have a big emotional impact, as well as, sporadically a HUGE visual impact.

The cosmic aspects are quite interesting. It's definitely NOT a conventional narrative, but I'd say definitely worth seeing, in my opinion.

 

[Tigersoap]

For what it's worth, visually it is very well thought and beautiful (thanks to the director of photography imho), the musical score and editing are great.
But I think that overall it's too pretentious for its own good.
I don't think it was too much a risk to show very beautiful images with great classical music, it allows for the audience to project his own emotions or ideas upon the images, which is fine in itself but I really do think it fails to support the main storyline.

I enjoyed it for what it was but I wasn't really amazed overall despite the quality of the images.
My two cents.

 

[Ca.]

Great Cinematography. Fascinating storey line, and stimulating music scores. I've yet to see it, but given the feed back here, its going to one not to miss. Thanks everyone, for the reviews. ;D

I think your garden variety Op would not understand, or appreciate the plot.

The Tree of Life Movie Trailer Official (HD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0


Tree Of Life Review by Roger Ebert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOuxLTF7rvk

 

[Alana]

Great Cinematography. Fascinating storey line, and stimulating music scores. I've yet to see it, but given the feed back here, its going to one not to miss. Thanks everyone, for the reviews. ;D

I think your garden variety Op would not understand, or appreciate the plot.

Well, I must admit that this movie wasn't my cup of tea ;) I found it "too much", for lack of better phrase. At moments I felt that the director was trying too much to tell his story in a unique way, and it was all presented as if it was a dream. I guess he was trying to be as faithful to memory recollections as possible, but I am more like: if you have a story to share, make it clear and quick 'cause I have other things to do So all the above, is just my subjective point of view.

 

[Masamune]

Well, I must admit that this movie wasn't my cup of tea ;) I found it "too much", for lack of better phrase. At moments I felt that the director was trying too much to tell his story in a unique way, and it was all presented as if it was a dream. I guess he was trying to be as faithful to memory recollections as possible, but I am more like: if you have a story to share, make it clear and quick 'cause I have other things to do So all the above, is just my subjective point of view.

I agree. I liked the poetic presentation and the "letting go" of trying to linearly follow the plot but I think it was too slow and confusing to follow. The first half hour I was completely confused about what was going on. I too felt like I have so many other things to do, please make some sense. I agree with others that it seemed pretentious. If it was much shorter and condensed I might have liked it a lot better. It did bring up a lot of memories of my childhood because I could relate to the environment and some of the dynamics between the characters. But overall I didn't think it was that good.

 

[Iconoclast]

i really disliked this movie.
it looks amazing but it seemed totally pointless and pseudo-new-agey to me.
and it is long. very loooooong... i usually don't mind that in a movie but here i must have looked at my watch 5-10 times.
the dinosaur/space sequence was laughable.

i quite liked "the thin red line" but this one was a major disappointment.

a movie that treads somewhat similar ground in a non-linear style is "Mr. Nobody", but it is much, much better than "the tree of life".

 

[melatonin]

Wow, what a let down.
The first 10 minutes pulled me in, it was amazing. Then.... it tried so hard to be deep, it was cringeworthy.
But hey, it was still 50 times better than 'Thor' which i watched on the same day.

 

[Z...]

Well I have to agree with all the negative comments. Yes the imagery and the music was stunning and the beginning promising but then it all just fizzled out.
The only thing I liked about this movie was its ability to tell the story without too many words but this obviously has its limitations.

 

[Z...]

and I think this sums it the best:

An Italian cinema showed the film for a week with the first two reels switched. Even though the film starts with production logos, no one in the theater noticed and thought it was all part of Terrence Malick's "crazy editing style"

as well as this

In August 2011, Sean Penn gave an interview to the French publication "Le Figaro" in which he was very critical of the movie and Terrence Malick's direction. Penn said "I didn't at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I've ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What's more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly."

 

[Iron]

I saw this movie this last weekend, and well... I did not get the ending.
They reencounter, its ok I understand, but I dont understand whose of the brothers Sean Penn is.
I like this style of telling stories, in a non-linear fashion, but this movie was so so for me.
Loved the interaction between the characthers, and the sequences of the creation of life on earth ( primordial soup theory)

 

[Zadius Sky]

After reading through this thread, I decided to watch The Tree of Life and The New World via rented DVD recently (I didn't want to watch the The Thin Red Line because I am not particularly like any war movies nowadays, violence and all).

The Tree of Life really is a visual poetry and I've enjoyed it. It really was quite absorbing, so to speak. I was choking up while watching the beach scene. I should have watched this one in theater where I don't have to worry so much about the "talking" part. It's very visual.