Review of The Sea of Trees (2016) by Patrick L — 16 Mar 2017

"It is a big disappointment on every aspect".

DVD Movie Review: The Sea of Trees.

Date Viewed: December 3 2016.

Directed By Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Good Will Hunting, Milk, Finding Forrester, Promised Land and Psycho).

Written By Chris Sparling.

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Naomi Watts and Ken Watanabe.

The relentlessly dull drama "The Sea of Trees" surprisingly makes those annoying Prevagen ads seem more enjoyable, you know those ads that say your brain has an ingredient that was originally discovered by jellyfish and appear over and over again on ABC's World News Tonight for no purpose whatsoever. This movie is certainly a depressing experience because talented people were involved here. It was directed by Gus Van Sant who is now far from his glory indie days and it stars Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and Oscar-nominees Naomi Watts and Ken Watanabe.

What is this movie about anyway? I guess it's supposed to be about finding redemption but there isn't a redeeming thing here in "Sea of Trees". McConaughey was already redeemed several years ago and he has now become a far more accomplished actor than I envisioned but 2016 looks to be a strangely disappointing year for him. "The Sea of Trees" got tremendously booed and laughed at by many critics during the Cannes film festival but I don't think it's that terrible. It just needed to make more sense and have a better narrative.

"The Sea of Trees" mostly takes place in a secluded forest near Japan's Mount Fuji where American professor Arthur Brennan (McConaughey) hopes to end his life. He is hoping to reconnect the love for his wife, Joan (Watts) and the both of them have been through tragic times. They kept on having fights, Joan was a self-driven alcoholic, she got sick, she recovered remarkably well but she got into a terrible car accident which resulted in her death. Now Brennan has decided to end his life in the "Suicide Forest" where it has become known for the numerous amount of people who have killed themselves there.

In the forest, he meets a Japanese man who is also seeking the same purpose. Takumi Nakamura's (Watanabe) life is completely lost and he seeks to kill himself after being dishonored from his workplace. Takumi also misses his wife and child very much and encountering Arthur Brennan gives him some reason to keep moving forward. The two travel together and they search for possible redemption and hope for the future. "The Sea of Trees" also resorts to flashbacks of Arthur and Joan's hostile time in their marriage and Joan maybe on the brink of divorcing him because she thinks Arthur is going nowhere with his job profession.

Arthur and Takumi start to become friends and they go a spiritual journey to self-healing and try to find their way home. "The Sea of Trees" is all moody, glum and depressing in the inside and even on the outside. By looking at the poster, you can tell that this movie is going to be dark, grim and sad but I didn't let out a single tear. The performers don't go into dramatic overdrive but "The Sea of Trees" is just a big pile of emptiness. Even so, Gus Van Sant has done far worse movies in the past ("Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and the awful 1998 shot-by-shot remake of "Psycho").

"The Sea of Trees" is a big disappointment on every aspect.