Tree of Life

This is one of the most ambitious films I've ever seen. I'm not exagerrating. Tree of Life shows us both the creation, and end, of the universe paralleled with the story of a man (Sean Penn) trying to come to terms with his difficult upbringing (with most of that story told in a flashback to his adolescence). Add to all of this the fact that the film has very little dialog (just a lot of the same whispered narration and fevered imagery characteristic of earlier Terrance Malick film's like The Thin Red Line) and you have at the very least an incredibly unique, and audacious, experience.

The question is ultimately whether all this works, and twenty four hours later I still don't know. It kind of reminds me of Charlie Kaufman's Synechode New York, except unlike that film Tree of Life doesn't explicitly collapse under the weight of its ambition. Considering that the film tries to address mans' relationship with god, the effect of discipline vs. grace in raising children, and the natural order of life that's saying something. Still (and repeating myself here) I don't know if it works. There are points where Malick does seem to get bogged down in his style, and the whole enterprise constantly borders on pretension. But for my next equivocation I will admit that the film is beautiful to look at, and there are several bravura, almost hypnotic, sequences. Alright at this point I'm just rambling. Tree of Life has a lot to recommend it, and it holds together better than could be expected given the unwieldy premise. You'll have to decide whether or not it's successful, or just a little full of itself. I obviously haven't been able to.

Side Note: The screening I went to was filled with senior citizens. And since this is Berkeley it means it was full of entitled senior citizens. This immediately caused problems as the subdued nature of the film was reflected in its sound projection, leading to comments along of the lines of "What Did he Say?" "I can't hear anything", etc. The lovely couple behind me not only spent the first hour eating popcorn while rustling the bag as much as possible, there also had conversations like this:

Husband: "That's Brad Pitt"

Wife (3 Seconds later): " Is that Brad Pitt?"

They also made at least two bathroom trips during the film and since there were stairs involved this meant they they block my view for five seconds at least four times. Thankfully halfway through they shut up. They may have died, I was too relieved to check.