The Tree of Life

Such a pretentious and pointless piece of garbage. I think Sean Penn put it best when he said, "I have no idea what I'm doing here or what I'm supposed to add to the context." Nailed it. Malick's movies in the past have been beautiful and had a plot, this one only has one of those things. Malick we get it, you don't have a coherent story to tell, quit showing us pictures of the sun and waterfalls you fat douche. Malick may have entered George Lucas territory, nobody is telling him no anymore.

An original and often mesmerizing coming-of-age ode, providing intimacy and personal perspective. McCracken is brilliant. Malick and Lubezki stunningly let us share his childhood, presenting family dynamics, formative years and the beauty of enjoying everyday life. The setup about ways of living seems reductive initially but they are, I gather, merely ideals thrust upon Jack, serving as a tool for organizing his trip down memory lane. I'll choose the way of grace and forgive the nature sequence.

A-s. Toothbrush. Paint. Peeling. Free. Star implodes. Pimple. Orgasm. Le petit morte of Laserdisc. Sneaker souls gripping the ground holding on for dear life. Masturbation. Mental. Genius. Read into a string of words like you read into the string of images in this film & believe you are internalizing something signifycan't. Stringing images of family, the cosmos, & time together doesn't mean you're saying something important. Avant garde review: haven't seen it. Meditate, ponder us, Jack's off.

I can't remember the time I witnessed that many walkouts, yet a harmless, meditative film such as this should hardly be held responsible for one's selfish demeanour. I was moved, emotionally and in thought, entangled by the film's uncanny ability to restore my general fascination about life, what once was and the unknown future which lies ahead, through one of the most intimately told stories I've seen. This is not a perfect film, yet in the grand scheme of things, it's one to be grateful for.

If modern filmmaking is the art of compromise, someone forgot to tell Terrence Malick. Not satisfied with merely tackling love, war and similar hefty themes, Malick this time goes for life itself with an elliptically, associative and lyrically rather than causally told story about people and the ties between them. It's not so much about the O'Brien family as it's about the idea of family and individual. "The Tree of Life" is equally ambitious and visually breathtaking – and a bit too much.