Rating of
4/4
Everything in a nutshell.
memento_mori - wrote on 06/25/13
Guess who got snubbed for Best Director.
Terrence Malick has proven himself to be a very unaccountable director. He never does interviews, barely ever lets himself be seen in public, and he makes strange editing decisions, often editing the majority of an actor's performance out of the movie… And with The Tree of Life, he yet again delivers something baffling.
As for Malick's direction: It's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen in my life, if not the most beautiful.
It feels like every frame, every shot in this film has a story behind it, a philosophy. Like it's a part of a clockwork that energizes our lives. And of course it has that Terrence Malick feel to it. The long, poignant shots and the ominous whispers. This is not a film for people who don't like Malick's movies, because it is the least entertaining and least substantiated of his films. It's pure art. That's it.
The third act of the film is really where the movie started falling apart for me. The motifs became repetitive, the characters tiring and the pacing way too long. I didn't know who was on who's side or what was going on in this weird abstract family brawl.
Another thing the film lacks is what most of Malick's films lack: Emotion.
There's not enough acting or genuine emotion in these performances for me to properly judge them. The characters aren't empty vessels, but I can't say I'm fascinated by them. I'm still sticking to my opinion from my original review: These great actors are underused.
Viewers have offered countless opinions and perspectives on the meaning of Malick's supposed magnum opus. Is it about life and death? Is it about creation? About fading virtue?
The movie just struck me as an intense examination of grief. Many scenes made a deep impression on me, even if they were minute in scale, and something as simple as Sean Penn putting his hand under a tap of running water.
No one can really know what was intended with this amazing addition to filmmaking. All we can truly admit about the film is that Terrence Malick is metaphysical. Is he a modern Stanley Kubrick? No.
He's something else entirely.
