Tree of Life

"...Tree of Life is an event movie and movie event of the highest order, an art work by a poet of cinema, whose body of work is small, but each panel of it is interesting and worth watching and rewatching.

There is also no doubt that “Tree of Life” is a highly personal work, sort of Malick’s hymn to life and celebration of the mysterious glory of creation itself.  It’s a movie in which he raises (more than he could possibly answer) haunting existential and humanistic questions that have prevailed in each of his works, but here find their fuller expression."

 

I am excited to see this movie. Not because it just won the Palme d'Or for best picture at Cannes. I think Terrence Malick is one of the best directors working today. He doesn't make many films, but the films he makes are always thought-provoking works of art. Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World. All great pictures, and unmistakably his - he's got a dreamy kind of ethereal style and a great eye for visual composition. And he's got a knack for using voice-over to relay what the characters are thinking, which is a tricky thing to do right.

 

There isn't an actor in Hollywood that wouldn't do a Malick film for free. The Thin Red Line had so many cameos by famous actors it was in danger of inducing distraction. For this film Brad Pitt is the lead, but Malick tends to prefer unknown or lesser-known actors for the important roles in his films.

 

Tree of Life is on my short list. I don't get to see many films in the theater but I'm going to try for this one.