Review of The Tree of Life (2011) by Tyler S — 19 Oct 2013

Terence Malick has aimed high by trying to cover the entirety of the universe's creation and the multifaceted complexities of human existence in this Palme d'Or winner from last year's Cannes Film Festival.

Malick has made only 5 films in 30 years and this one feels as though it has been gestating for as long as Malick himself, as he depicts a poetic but difficult film where narrative is at a minimum and although beautifully shot, the ambiguous meanings may not be to every audiences liking.

Sitting well alongside Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Aronofsky's "The Fountain", it's another epic film with lofty ambitions tackling the universe, space, birth, life and death.

The movie however verges from the sublime (Pitt's performance as a 1950s father is a believable tour-de-force) to the ridiculous (Sean Penn is utterly wasted as the grown up son and the ending is an art-house mess) and for me it most resembles the non-narrative film Baraka in its visual style - leapfrogging from one tonal idea to the next.

It's worth sticking with if you're in the mood to be challenged but on the other hand, it's very close to not being a "movie" in the traditional sense at all. A confusing (some may say pretentious) 6.

5/10 MM Mike.