The Tree of Life (2011) // dir. Terrence Malick

Pitt and Malick take a transcendental look at family values and the emergence of the cosmos.

The Tree of Life attempts to chronicle the origin and meaning of life through a middle-aged man's (Sean Penn) childhood memories. Visionary Malick, presents us with his interpretation of the Big Bang - from the creation of the planets, the forming of the oceans, and the tale of evolution (even including dinosaurs). Eventually, we arrive at Penn's suburban childhood home in 1950's America, where we meet his amiable, nurturing mother (Jessica Chastain), and his overbearing, austere father (Brad Pitt). With an excellent film-making reputation preceding the reclusive Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line), coupled with endless 5 star reviews and awards buzz, I went into this film with extremely high expectations. Malick's notoriety for precision during the editing process (it spent almost 3 years in the cutting room until The Tree of Life made it to the big screen) only added to the anticipation. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed. There was a distinct lack of dialogue throughout, meaning that character development and interaction was minimal. Additionally, there was an absence of a structured storyline, making the film very ambiguous and subjective, partly as a result of the aforementioned lack of dialogue. The Tree of Life is inundated with biblical undertones and references, which are somewhat rendered obsolete by Malick's highly contradictory, excessively long interpretation of the creationist theory. It all seemed a little bit bizarre and inconsequential thus far. The films pace is painfully slow, and when we finally arrive at Penn's childhood memories, we encounter a large number of scenes illustrating different aspects of the same family dynamic - it soon becomes a little tedious. By the time we reach the incongruous final scene, the levels of pretentiousness are unbearable.

Having said that, The Tree of Life is a brave and innovative film, it just didn't personally resonate with me, but give it a watch and draw your own conclusions.