The Tree of Larfs

Alright...so I finally got around to seeing this year's Palme D'Or winner, the newest Terrence Malick film, The Tree of Life.

And....so....what did I think? 

Yeah...my brain has been kind of like that for the past few days.

I won''t bother to rehash the "story" of this film, especially since it has already been discussed in so many other forums over the past month. It only relates the beginning and ending of time to the birth and spiritual death of Sean Penn's dour character.

Of course, since the universe didn't form the earth and the dinosaurs just to eventually culminate in Sean Penn's lifetime, there has to be much made of how Brad Pitt's Mr. O'Brien character was a repressed failure of a musician who ruled his household with an ironfist so his three boys would be able to fend for themselves in their adult lives (clearly, this is set during the Eisenhower era). All of the actors, including wunderkind Jessica Chastian, play their roles well and look beautiful. Of course, they are all merely window dressing in Malick's philosophical misc-ens-scene. The real stars of this show are Douglas Trumball's special effects shots which show what Jurassic Park would look like if it had been made by an aging trust fund hippie.

A lot has been made of the film's future awards chances. I would say the cinematography has the best chance of getting anything. I would imagine that the art direction and direction could be nominated as well. I would say visual effects, but Douglas Trumball has been persona non grata in Hollywood for so long after the fallout with Brainstorm (if anyone even remembers that film) that he may split the votes with say, the Harry Potters and Green Lanturns of the year.

I must say that the infamous "creation" sequence is among some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen outside of an IMAX science documentary. Hearing about Mr. Malick's new documentary project that will be out next year, making this sequence in a narrative format suddenly seemed to make sense. The way it comes about in the film makes dramatic sense, kind of, and is such an artistic risk, you can't help but want it to succeed..and it does...in it's own way. However, contrasting a silly new age-y "afterlife" sequence with a depiction of the the supernova of the sun and the end of the universe, was pushing it too much, it you ask me. Surprisingly  I felt this climatic sequence is what worked the least in the entire film, although I can't fault Mr. Malick for putting it in to begin with. Its abstractness felt appropriate but did not dramatically pay off the way he was going for. The film suddenly began to feel cliched and slightly superficial. However, the images were so beautiful, I didn't seem to mind. 

A lot has also been made of the audience's reactions. Reactions such as these remind me why I bother to pay ticket prices to see films to begin with. When the film ended, some jerk started doing the coughing then saying "bullshit" thing that people still do for some reason. Even elderly women started saying things like, "f you and f you too!" as their reaction. Some said it was "beautiful," but most just seemed to be waiting for something to happen. I'm guessing that a Matthew Barney film would not be up their alley. But whatever lack of good gestalt that the film provides, it's emphasis on physical beauty and ethics of a past era are what makes it stick out. The music is amazing as well, but it's nothing ground breaking.  In fact, most of it feels like something from a  science documentary. If it hadn't been directed by Mr. Malick, I would have guessed that the film was made as an advertisement for the upcoming documentary or a big budget What the Bleep do We Know remake. It's lack f story and actual characters isn't surprising, considering the conceptual ambition Mr. Malick, is going for. Many scenes, like when the two brothers bond over a shooting accident, are surprisingly intimate and illustrate the theme of mercy in this cold, cruel universe very well. It is forgiveness that gives this life any real meaning in any time or place. It's moments like those that will keep the film from becoming simply an unworthy macro-cosmic Cannes hit and/or forgotten by the hoi polloi.

Of course, when you've got images like these, I doubt becoming forgotten is what will happen to any film, no matter how polarizing.