Post by StevePulaski on Oct 9, 2011 21:58:03 GMT -5
Brad Pitt takes on one of his most astonishing roles in The Tree of Life.
Rating: ★★★★
The Tree of Life is broken up into three different halves. The first half is the first twenty to twenty-five minutes of the film where you have to get used to the way it's laid out. The second half is when you're beginning to get immersed in the characters' world. The final half is when you're fully immersed in their world, and are craving more imagery and more brilliance. That's what The Tree of Life is all about.
Terrence Malick is one of the most interesting, yet subtle directors working today. Since 1973, he has only made five feature films, all of which garnering critical acclaim, yet divided audience reception. They are love it or hate it films. Because of Malick's ambition to change the way we see films, and since his films mainly follow the style of a non-linear piece, they can be quite a patience tester and for some just completely not interesting. So this is a hard one to recommend. I say - if you think the films the mainstream public are exposed to are not on par with your expectations, if you like to dig for films that are seldomly seen and don't get their own spotlight, or if just independent cinema fascinates you, The Tree of Life should be at the very top of your must see list.
Because of the film's non-linear narrative, explaining the plot isn't an easy thing to do. The story is set in the 1950's with Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain living a middle-class life. We then get many quiet narrations, a whole ten minute long scene of the planets being formed and the galaxy expanding. Strange, yet intriguing scenes of a dinosaurs showing some of the first examples of true sympathy, and then it's back to the family.
The family is the O'Briens, and over time they are bringing up three boys. Brad Pitt plays Jack who is loud, strict, and the disciplinarian of the boys and his wife. His wife believes that Jack is too hard on the boys, but keeps quiet most of the time to avoid confrontation.
Scenes of the family continue to get mixed in with different shots of the world, collective imagery, sometimes shots spanning a single object for several moments, and more. We get it all. Not only is this a roller-coaster of a film, but it's one that is so different, so amazing, and so mindblowing and exciting it's almost too much to take in. Even only clocking in at almost two and a half hours it feels twice as long as that - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I imagine with repeated viewings one will notice more and more things quietly thrown in. Just by writing this, and contemplating the events of those two and a half hours, I remember a quote from the Book of Job at the beginning of the film. Brad Pitt plays "Jack O'Brien" whose initials represent "JOB." It would not surprise me if that mentioning of Job is only one of many more throughout the course of the film.
The Tree of Life can only get better with repeated viewings mainly because you'll never see the same movie twice. You'll keep seeing different things and different messages meaning that maybe this is one of the few films that can never truly be "seen."
While I'm not sure if this could take home "Best Picture," "Best Cinematography" is easily in the bag for The Tree of Life. I've never seen a film with cinematography as well done as this most likely because I've never seen a film quite like this. Special effects wizard Emmanuel Lubezki works with Malick to create effective and incomprehensible realism that will leave you speechless. Lubezki also worked with Malick on his last project The New World. Two totally different films - two totally different series of effects.
We are told in the beginning of the film that there are two ways of the world; of nature and grace. I believe our two leads are supposed to represent those two forces with Brad Pitt as nature and Jessica Chastain with angelic grace.
The Tree of Life doesn't act pretentious because of the fact it doesn't boast itself to be bigger than everything out there. I didn't recall one commercial or one late night talk show interview with anyone from this film. Because it's a treasure you should decide if you want to uncover. After being tied up for many years, Malick is pretty much saying "if you want me, come find me."
From research, I've learned that elements of a film Malick wanted to make tentatively titled Q were incorporated in this. No one really knows what that would've been like, but I doubt that it would've been the cinematic achievement that is The Tree of Life.
I haven't even scratched the surface of this film, but I'm stopping here because I feel I've already said a bit too much. This should be a film you find, watch, form an opinion about, and then go and read others thoughts on the film if you choose. You shouldn't base your views off of someone else's with any film, but I feel that if you read too many subjective remarks about The Tree of Life you'll either be persuaded the wrong way, or have ruined your whole outlook on an amazing film. Let the film take you by the hand and lead you through its world. That's what it did for me.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. Directed by: Terrence Malick.