Review of The Tree of Life (2011) by Maitiú Ó — 22 Dec 2012

Terrance Malick films has a lot ambition, but when it comes to presenting a narrative, his films are quite uneven. This film being his most uneven film. The movie has great performances from Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain.

The center story is well made. in fact, I would say, if this film just kept that story, this movie would be a whole lot better. The center story being about the family dealing with the loss of their child, then flashing back to dead child's childhood.

It would make for a better film, probably not as interesting as the one in this film. When I say this film is interesting, I don't mean it in a positive way. There are many out-of-place moments in here, such as a creation of life sequence that lasts twenty minutes, and Sean Penn walking around in a desert.

I know this film is meant to be philosophical, but it just felt out-of-place and unintentionally funny. I wish Terrence Malick just told a more simple story, instead of adding bits that take away impact from the whole narrative itself.

I admire Terrence malick's ambition, but that's all I can really admire about Terrence Malick. In conclusion, this ambitious film fails because there is no real narrative structure that is present within this film, or really any of Malick's films.

I don't recommend seeing Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life". 4/10.