The Tree Of Life

['Press Start']

Looks like the kind of film I have been waiting for. Can't wait!

[Bort]

Beyond Hanna tomorrow this is the only film I'm looking forward to this year. Hopefully this will be another Malick classic.

p.s. I think John already had a thread about it.

[JP]

Me? I've been mentioning it to everyone since it was first announced in 2005 but I can't remember a thread about it.

For a long time I thought this would never get released due to the distribution issues and the court case. I'm hopefully wrong but as far as I know it still doesn't have a distributor in the UK after the trouble that Icon Entertainment caused concerning the release.

It was due for release in cinema's over here on the 4th May but that was killed off some time ago but that seems to have been ignored by people in the press for some reason.

It's already been announced as blu-ray release but again, not over here although I believe Icon Entertainment have some how managed to keep hold of it in Australia.

It's really films like these that are best seen in the cinema and I say as somebody who really finds the cinema experience to be truly awful in the larger cinemas. There was talk some time back of this also having an IMAX release but I've heard nothing about it for a while so it's possible that won't happen now.

I really can't wait to see this as Terrence Malick seems to speak a very different language to other directors. His films usually leave me in the same state as Kubrick's 2001, I get to the end and I'm usually sat with mouth open and just not being able to understand the breadth of what I've just seen.

Like 2001, I think his films benefit from watching them repeatedly as I they can offer new experiences every time you watch them as you find something new each time.

[JP]

There's been a few more details released bout the film now that Cannes 2011 is underway.

There are some intriguing screen captures, as you may expect from Malick the images are almost intentionally vague and they ask questions rather than answer them.










There's also some thoughts from an IMDB member who is lucky enough to have seen an early screening, it discusses how he feels about the film rather than the content of it so there I'd say there aren't any spoilers but I'm going to hide it anyway.

->Open Spoiler<-

With TREE OF LIFE, you have a film that is tackling a very grand message: That forgiveness, compassion and kindness are linked with our evolution as a species. The film will rub some people the wrong way in its somewhat naive viewpoint. I, for one, saw the film in a very specific moment, where I myself was feeling naive and filled with optimism ? the film captured me and I went with it and by the end of the screening me and my friend met in the parking lot of the studio and [we] were crying, not from sadness, but from joy. And this wasn?t just a film school nerd-out-session: No, the film touches on something very unpopular in modern films. It isn?t ironic in it?s melodrama, it is sincere and because of its earnestness it requires that you actually shed your hardened shell and give yourself to the film. For these reasons, it may garnish mixed reviews and befuddled reactions. But, rest assured, the film will be remembered as a masterpiece, I cannot overrate it enough because it sits with me as one of the best films ever made, here is my top ten, in no particular order, to (hopefully) legitimize my claim: DEEP END, MISHIMA, TAMPOPO, BLUE VELVET, EYES WIDE SHUT, THE TREE OF LIFE, DEAD RINGERS, SHERMAN?S MARCH, DON?T LOOK NOW & JAWS.

The film will be compared to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, for sure, and this has everything to do with an extended sequence that really catapults the film to another, mystical, level, and makes it an art film. The reasons for comparing it to 2001 are deeper than it having shots of planets and a very trippy sequence. No, the real reason the film is linked with 2001 is because on the origin of man sequence. In my opinion, what Kubrick argued in those opening moments, was that the foundation of life was built on violence and conquering the competition. Granted, you could argue that 2001 is Kubrick?s most optimistic film, but there is a underlying message of inherent evil that looms over those monkeys. In TREE OF LIFE, you will find the exact opposite message, and yes, I am referring to this much talked about Dinosaur sequence. Without divulging too much about what happens, I can really only say that the way Malick views the dinosaurs is not as violent, but as animals capable of compassion and grace. I haven?t even touched on Brad Pitt?s amazing performance and a final moment of restrained acting on his part that will squeeze the hearts of even the coldest people. This scene is also about forgiveness.

Let me end on this: Around the time I saw this film I also had the displeasure of seeing KICK ASS. This was a horrible viewing experience for me and I found the film to be without any merit. Out of sheer boredom, I gazed around the theatre and something peculiar had caught my eye: A woman, in her mid thirties, was crying during the climatic scenes of KICK ASS. It was in this moment that I realized why something as gorgeous as TREE OF LIFE is going to have a hard time in the current market place. We do not value movies about love, we need ironic disconnect in order to feel safe. We?re a society unwilling to love. Love admits need, foreshadows pain, and insists on vulnerability, and our culture privileges autonomy, prizes comfort, and idolizes disconnect. Modern audiences are not ready for this film, but that won?t stop it?s it from ascending the ranks of top tens lists, and I know it will hold a place in my heart forever.

TREE OF LIFE?felt like being reawakened to the emotional power of cinema. Our generation (and I am certainly guilty of this as a 27 year old male) we have become quite pessimistic, again, only from my perspective. TREE OF LIFE made me sit back and really consider how much time we waste by giving into our worst impulses. On the review sheet, at the test screening, they asked for a one sentence assessment of my feelings, I wrote: ?One of the only films I have ever seen that could cause a religious awakening.? Others include ANDRIE RUBLEV, but this takes top honors in my books.

I really can't explain just how much I want to see this film, it's always the same with his films but from what I've seen and read of this he may well be raising the bar yet again.

And yet, we still have what will likely be a lengthy legal battle to sit through before the film reaches the UK.

[Matt]

This has been my most anticipated film for a long time

[JP]

A new scene that was released yesterday, if you've watched the trailer it's an extended shot from that so it's not really giving anything away.


I'm really tempted to watch Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World again as I have them on blu-ray. The New World blu-ray isn't perfect but it's well beyond any of the DVD releases and I'm still waiting for Badlands to appear on blu-ray, hopefully that'll happen release once this is close to getting one.