Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- Four out of Five ‘Staches.
Reclusive filmmaker, Terrence Malick is back again with his fifth film in the last 40 years. In his attempt to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything; Malick’s answer is definitely not, 42. The film will confuse people; there is no doubt about it. While others will be turned off by its slow pace and unconventional structure. But if you sit and take the time to analyze the film, the end result of all its parts, is quite amazing.
“The Tree of Life” mainly follows the life of the O’Brien family, specifically the eldest son Jack. On what one could speculate is the 30th or 40th anniversary of the passing of one of his brothers, the now successful architect Jack reflects on his life, from birth to his teenage years. He also contemplates the earth, the universe and god. The film jumps around a bit, mostly in it’s early stages. The majority of time is spent watching Jack and his interactions with his family, but there is a fairly large section of the film that maps out the creation of the earth and touches slightly on pre-historic eras and depending on your point of view; the afterlife.
If you take the film on face value, it really is nothing more than just watching life. It deals with the loss of innocence, the fight to gain it back and why we may harbor certain urges. It may or not make any sense, yet can appeal to a wide array of people. Whether it reminds you of your own life, floors you with its impeccable imagery and photography or just strikes a certain emotion in you; I can’t imagine even those who will not like the film,not being able to find something in the movie to connect with.
But if you dig deeper (not that deep if you think about it, everything is mapped out for you) “The Tree of Life” is an investigation into why the world runs the way it does. The interactions between Jack and his family, more specifically his father are metaphors for Jack’s issues with God. While all of his problems and issues exist with his immediate family, they speak to the nature of the world. When Jack explodes, questioning why all of his parents love seems to go toward one of his younger brothers, it also hearkens what he wants to know from God; why has God made life easier for my brother and he shows no love for me? The allusion of his father as God also is explored, noticeably in a scene where his father requests that he only be called Father not Dad.
Visually, the film is awe inspiring. It could have been presented with no dialogue whatsoever, and it still would have evoked a massive pull of emotion from me. This is true for every section of the film, from space, to microbes, to American life; it all looks so amazingly gorgeous. Due to the nature of extreme close-ups and scarce dialogue, the actors in the film have to get across the importance of their feelings through facial expressions. I don’t think I can point to anyone in the film and say they deserve an overwhelming reception for their performance, but each of them carries their weight. I also have no clue where they found the middle brother, but he looks as if he could have been Brad Pitt at a young age.
The only major problem I have with the film is that while a lot of the things it tries to answer or explore has been done before, it was almost done the exact same way in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain.” This includes the method of shooting microorganisms for practical effects. The non-linear story telling of the film is also nothing new, but with everything else it had in common with “The Fountain,” it is hard not to compare the movies to each other.
It’s hard not to believe that Malick set out to make “The Tree of Life” a cathartic search for answers of his own. To me at least, the film only can express two specific answers. First, it provides its answer to a common question, something many people ask, “Why do so many bad things happen in the world? Why are their natural disasters? Why did God take my brother?” To this the film states; from chaos, life always springs. Second, for those who want a better understanding to the meaning of life, “The Tree of Life” simply says; only through death, will we understand life.
when I die I want to know specific stuff like JFKs murder the conspiracies all that, and go into my moms mind at certain points. float above cities. I would prefer not to only know the answers in a big picture way…, but maybe when we die, we don’t care about those sorts of answers
roohoo, I do not know who you are, but you are my new hero.