The Tree of Life

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Mum

I've only seen the last 2 Terrence Malick films but I know him more by reputation. This was his big Cannes film this year and the trailer seemed ambitions and ambiguous. I thought I'd take mum and we checked out the first session today.

It's very sincere. A bit too much so for my tastes. It plays out like some kind of visual tone poem. It was far more religious than I was ready for as well. I'll be honest, I was in it for the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are awesome. And there's about 7 or 8 shots towards the beginning. But I can't connect as to the reason why they were in the film. It's one of those ones you'll have to make your own mind up about.

All the 1950's stuff I liked, which is about 80% of the film. It captured the period really well and the feeling of growing up then, the family life, all that kind of stuff. Brad Pitt is very convincing as a 50's dad. That kind of head of the family disciplinarian bread winner. The kids are all great too. There's no real story I can discern but the protagonist, who presumably grows up to be Sean Penn, does have a journey.

The photography is beautiful. Even when I'm not that engaged in what's going on I can enjoy the photography. Honestly though, the music was a bit over the top for my tastes. It pushed the more challenging sections from poignant to pretentious. Grand intentions I'm sure but just too much for my tastes.

A tough one to recommend. You've really got to be ready and open for this one I think. I'm probably still too cynical.