The Tree Of Life

Tried to watch it twice ....just didnt do it for me and I was waiting for this one. BR looks spectacular. Maybe some other day.
 
Ted Spencer said:
Rented this film and couldn't get through more than about a half hour of it. In fairness, I'm very story-oriented where cinema is concerned, so this sort of trippy-visual approach does little for me.
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...So how do you feel about Kubrick's "2001 A Space Odyssey" ?

There are so many great films that are visually driven as much or more than their narrative story. I would loose so many favorites if I had to choose only films that are largely narrative focused.
 
I know two people who worked on the film. They called our shop once to buy a hard drive... Saw it in nyc in july. 10 people were in theater and 5 walked out. Techically, fine, excellent, whatever. Story wise? He didn't talk to his wife until the last half hour of the film. As a piece of history maybe we can how forever look back to this time in history or whatever. All i wanted to see was more running steadicam shots with wide angle glass. More of that, that's all. Seriously. Sorry for missing all the points.
 
I thought Tree of Life was amazingly sad, profound, honest and beautiful. One of the best films I've ever seen, though it's not my favorite. The lack of a standard narrative left Malick open to use freeform image flow and character momentum to hike our emotions and relate a series of feelings more than story constructs. Don't get me wrong, it was hard to sit through in theaters, and I'm sure it's harder on DVD. Also, I absolutely hated The Thin Red Line, the only other Malick film I've seen (and therefore, I hated Malick). When I saw all the trailers for this film I thought it was going to be horrible, but somehow Malick got through to me with the slow, aching beauty of Tree of Life.
 
I LOVEDDD Tree of Life.


It's definitely a different type of movie, but isn't that a good thing? Now more so than ever in cinema.

This movie left me in such a weird/nostalgic state for a few days after seeing it.

Even though I didn't connect deeply with the characters, it's almost like they connected with me.

It made me very introspective and thinking of my own childhood, not any events in particular, but just the feeling of it all.

It's crazy, because I could never have described what that movie made me feel, so I couldn't even imagine thinking of it from a creative sense.

How do you come up with that ****!?

Also the formation of the Earth/Sun and dinosaur parts were so ****ing cool
 
TheDingo said:
...So how do you feel about Kubrick's "2001 A Space Odyssey" ?
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I saw in in the theater when it came out (revealing my age here), and loved it. But I might have had some...ahem...chemical assistance. In any case it was the 60s, an 'anything is fair game' period in our culture if there ever was one. But as I recall the film I think it did have considerably greater (at least implied) narrative drive than "Tree Of Life" (for as far into it as I could stand, to be fair), and certainly it dealt with the most primal/existential of all possible paradigms. So it had considerable weight. And it was in Kubrick's hands, who turned out to be not exactly a lightweight director...

There are so many great films that are visually driven as much or more than their narrative story. I would loose so many favorites if I had to choose only films that are largely narrative focused.
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My taste has certainly gravitated toward strong storytelling in recent times, but I do love a great visual world as well. So (among) the best for me have both: films like "Avatar", "Star Wars", "The Wizard Of Oz", etc. But I am also completely captivated by great story-driven films like "Casablanca", "Chinatown", "It's A Wonderful Life" etc. It's when the visuals are far and away the driving element that I get restless and bored. I deeply enjoy a beautiful sunset on a summer's evening but probably wouldn't so much if it lasted 2 1/2 hours : )
 
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I haven't seen Tree of Life yet so I can't comment there, but 2001, while very deliberately paced, has a central mystery driving it that counts for a lot. What is the monolith? On a fundamental, what's going to happen next level there is something there to pull the audience though, depending on their attention span. It has a certain degree of suspense. At times, like the pod bay doors sequence, quite a bit of suspense. From what I know about Tree of Life, I'm not sure it has even that going for it. It sounds like just a bunch of metaphysical musings set to pretty pictures. But I'll reserve judgement until I watch it.
 
Batutta said:
I haven't seen Tree of Life yet so I can't comment there, but 2001, while very deliberately paced, has a central mystery driving it that counts for a lot. What is the monolith? On a fundamental, what's going to happen next level there is something there to pull the audience though, depending on their attention span. It has a certain degree of suspense. At times, like the pod bay doors sequence, quite a bit of suspense. From what I know about Tree of Life, I'm not sure it has even that going for it. It sounds like just a bunch of metaphysical musings set to pretty pictures. But I'll reserve judgement until I watch it.
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I think Ebert said it best: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110602/REVIEWS/110609998
 
Michael Traven said:
I think Ebert said it best: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110602/REVIEWS/110609998
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Now after seeing the film I can agree with a lot of what Ebert wrote. I connected with the film in a similar way he did, growing up with a stern, disciplinarian father in a pastoral suburb, where kids roamed neighborhoods freely. But being a father now, I also connected with Brad Pitt's character. It's a tough thing to judge sometimes as a dad, knowing when to be forgiving and when to be stern, and I understood where his seemingly mercurial moods and frustrations came from. I'm not sure I feel this film is a masterpiece, though. It may be a little TOO shapeless. But I did have an emotional experience watching it and it took me to a certain time and a place, making me reflect on life, which is what I think Malick intended. And the imagery Malick puts on film is always compelling. If this film wins the Oscar for best cinematography I won't be surprised. This film isn't for everybody, though. If you can let go of the idea that you are going to see a story and just allow yourself to surf on Malick's wave, you may come away with a transcendent experience. Or you could be bored silly.
 
I thought the visuals were brilliant but I just couldn't get into the story, but I trully enjoyed watching it soley on the visuals and the music also.
 
Probably one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen. It's also a very ambitious film trying to capture
a sense of "cosmic connectedness" in both the macro and the micro.

Something you have to see a couple of times I think

jeff
 
The visuals in this film were simply stunning and not just in the beginning and end of the world scenes either. The small town family stuff contains some of the most breathtaking cinematography I've ever seen - simple but beautiful. I really connected with this movie - have to see it again and I'll be taking notes next time.
 
Well, I'll play Devils advocate here and say "ehhh" (if being nice) and "boy, that was a waste of time" (if being not so nice)

Didn't get to see it in the theatre, so I waited for the DVD. Had to make myself stay watching. I was overwelmed by the smell of pretentiousness. (that didn't work anywhere near as well as it did in 2001)
(I wouldn't even compare this and 2001)

Don't get me wrong, I love the premise of the "Big Picture" but I also go to the movies to be entertained. I wasn't entertained.
 
Man, I love Mallick, but I really did not enjoy this movie. You could feel that the entire theater was basically waiting for it to end during that last half hour. Any shot, could be the final shot so I kept getting faked out. Beautifully shot, but man, did not connect with this.

A basic storyline could have helped the Sean Penn narrative, hell have him travelling home to go to his dads funeral instead of all that wandering in the desert.
 
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