Tree of Life (Malick, 2010)

[shariqq]

So I saw it last night.

I have a retina burn with some of the images, imprinted in my eyes and mind. What sets them apart though, is that they weren't just beautiful images, but the context they were in and their resonance in the little story of the movie. And by little, I mean the personal story of one man, and what he goes through in his mind and feelings triggered by one memory, that leads to an emotional reliving of his childhood.

After the movie, I went to the box office to find out how many tickets were sold for the screening I saw it in (the lady was good enough to show me the seat-map of the cinema for occupied seats). There were 11 people when the movie started, and 5 (including me) when it finished. Of those 5, 2 were regretting watching it and agreeig with the usher that they should have taken the usher's advice and skipped the movie. In fact, when I bought my ticket, I was told by the box-office attendant that the movie is "like a documentary", and not a "normal movie", so that she makes me aware of what I was walking into. I appreciated the sincerity of the cinema staff.

True to what most people who have liked this movie say, this is not a movie for everyone, and surely not for the impatient. Even for the seasoned movie watcher, this requires completely surrendering to the art of the director. I do not think I would have enjoyed this movie as much as I did if not for DIFF and the past movies of this director.

The movie itself is a gaze into the childhood of Sean Penn's character, Jack. One summer in particular, where he goes through a growing up of sorts. This leads to and includes thoughts about Life, God, and more importantly, existence.

And what a wonderful soundtrack to convey the homogeneity of conscience and existence. It's not overwhelming, nor just functional. It is not supplemental to the visuals, but a part of it, encompassing.

I do agree that the parts featuring Sean Penn are the weaker parts of the movie, but I don't see them as a flaw that bring the movie down. His scenes are more abstract, more symbolic, and hence not in the same level as the rest of the movie. I dunno how else to describe it, but it is like seeing the stars during the day -- they don't fit in the day sky, yet they *are* there, beyond the light of day. (Maybe Malick does that to you, make you think in aesthetic terms.)

There's still some of the movie I don't get, and the movie did make me fidgety with its narrative, hence I don't consider it as his best movie, like I do Days of Heaven (with Thin Red Line being a close second). But this movie is very good and more than anything, an experience. The only question for any viewer of this movie is: Are YOU ready for it?

My rating --> 4 of 5

[kaytee]

The movies touches so many topics, it is bound to be confusing. The movie shows us a constant fight between grace and nature and how that is connected with good people suffering? Why God punishes people who are good and not to the ones who are bad? The whole cycle on life and death and how one should accept both as part of the creation of the universe. Everything is intertwined with breathtaking visuals and story telling.

[shariqq]

Good news for those in UAE and plan to watch the movie: Tree of Life is running for the all of next week (17-23 Nov) at Grand Ibn Batuta and Reel Dubai Marina Mall.

[X.]

Very good review, Shariq.

[fizz]

I had to wait till my second viewing (today) to make sure I absorbed all of it completely and as it was intended. I may not be entirely correct, but I feel the second viewing was even more richer than the first and a near empty cinema hall helped as well.

Tree of Life

Few films can compete with the magnificent ambitions of Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life. It is perhaps the only film in recent memory that spans from the beginning of time to the end of the universe. That it finds the space and breadth to show us an intimate, personal, sometimes scattershot story of three boys growing up in Texas during the 50’s is quite extraordinary.

At once about many things and yet something quite specific, the centerpiece is a story about the O’Brien children and the growing pains of living up to the demands of their strict disciplinary father (a brooding Brad Pitt), authoritative to a fault. Beautiful and elegant with its indelible imagery and full of ideas, my mind found it hard to look away even while my thoughts battled to keep up with the endless montage of seemingly disconnected sequences that represented the many phases of life – birth, growth, love, rebellion, guilt, death. The film is in fact a requiem for the past and its entire synthesis is triggered by a scene early on where Jack (Sean Penn, playing the eldest son as an adult) remembers the day his family learned of the death of his brother.

Tree of Life’s concepts are overarching and it is grand in scale to the point where it seems fallible – something that has always threatened all of Malick’s previous films as well. Having by now perfected his elliptical, perceptive style, heavily reliant on internal monologues that sound like hushed prayers and a non-conventional narrative devoted to exploring the natural surroundings of the story as intimately as the actors that inhabit it, the film furthers this unique approach to unprecedented levels. The segment most likely to confound viewers is one that digresses from a pivotal moment in the storyline, where the family first learns of the demise of the second son, and takes us back, literally, to the formation of the world.

As astonishing in its realization, beauty, and insight as it might be, it is still reasonable to question why a film that largely functions as the memories that form when reminiscing about the past, should go all the way back and show us, in a careful mashup of creationism and evolution, the very beginning of life itself. In retrospect, it adds perspective, telling us about our rightful place in the birth of the violent cosmos, and reaffirming the notion that, in the span of things, we are mere specks. Such ideas may seem obtuse or silly to those not used to Malick’s body of work, largely consisting of equally challenging films that fully utilize the core ingredients of filmmaking – sound, visuals, editing – but to the informed viewer, it adds greater appreciation for the director.

Intimately opening up his own childhood and laying it bare for viewers (many of the things that happen seem to be wrought from the inner workings of a subjective past), Malick’s anecdotal script is rivetingly composed of events that will seem like universal truths to many – the idleness of youth, the discovery that our world is a mysterious, enigmatic and sometimes confusing place. Tree of Life has many achievements, but for the inquisitive mind it’s the encapsulation of all of these feelings into its dense structure that is most striking. Note how the film effortlessly shifts from scenes of dinner table conflicts, where the father near-hits a son for interrupting him, to the unadulterated joy of finding out that he is away on a trip and they are now liberated.

For Malick aficionados it’s worth noting that despite feeling like a culmination of all of the director’s unique motifs, Tree of Life is also the first film in his inimitable repertoire to have scenes set in the present and they are as sterile and cold as anything you’d expect from the point of view of someone who yearns for and respects natural surroundings. Detached from the formal methods of film creation, his work may seem lose, unstructured and brooding to some for all the wrong reasons, but there is no denying it is exquisitely realized and never undisciplined. If nothing, it makes all the effects based, 3D/CGI garbage being released week after week at cineplex’s look meaningless and hollow. Tree of Life not only demands careful viewing, but even more time contemplating about it.

Rating: 5/5

[kaytee]

In retrospect, it adds perspective, telling us about our rightful place in the birth of the violent cosmos, and reaffirming the notion that, in the span of things, we are mere specks.

Completely agree, that whole segment including the dinosaur scene were magical and showed how life can be brittle and weak and God has control over it all. Be it the massive formation of planets and the universe or creatures like dinosaur and people.

[shariqq]

That's not a review, it is a love letter!

[X.]

I wish for Fizz to meet Terrence Malick one day. (But after me of course!).

Excellent review from our resident Malick expert.