Viewed in
2011
Formats
DVD
Premise
A Terrence Malick movie about a young boy's growing pains... and dinosaurs...
Loved
Dazzling nature scenes.
Liked
Hunter McCracken.
Disliked
Confusing story.
Thoughts
There was a section in this movie that was absolutely jaw-dropping. The story arbitrarily detoured into a history of the planet, as if Malick decided to drop his own version of Planet Earth into his own movie. It was gorgeously shot, deftly edited, and contained some of most haunting sound design I've ever heard in a long time. I was reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of its epic visual and aural experience. This part of the film deserved to be seen on the largest screen possible. I can't imagine how mind-blowing an HD/5.1 experience would've been.
In addition, there were some interesting themes thoughtfully explored by the film and its characters, such as life, death, and religion. I also really enjoyed Hunter McCracken's performance as a teenage boy losing his innocence.
Now, we know Malick tends to make weird movies, but I find The Tree of Life difficult to recommend. I could not figure out the purpose of this movie. At nearly two and a half hours long, I was left completely bewildered and agitated. The nature scenes were memorable and had award-worthy sound, but what the heck did it have to do with McCracken's arc? The crazy visuals in the Sean Penn scenes just felt pretentious.
For people who like artsy-fartsy movies, this is probably worth checking out, if you have the patience. But, seriously Malick, dinosaurs? WTF?
