Terrence Malick’s movies are more poetry than prose, tethered to conventions like plot and character by only the thinnest of connective strands. So it is in The Tree of Life, which is in one sense about a man (Sean Penn) recalling the grief, anger and joy of a childhood ruled by a loving but stern father (Brad Pitt) and in a more accurate sense is about everything. It’s an exploration, undertaken within the context of family dynamics, of how abstract emotions like love, pride and shame fit in an often brutal natural world. It’s also about god and the origins of the universe. With his sumptuous visual sensibility and knack for coaxing introspective slow-burns from big movie stars—Pitt gets especially, wonderfully lost in his role— Malick bites off this huge chunk of thematic meat and chews on it in mesmerizing style.
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.
Have you ever thought “Man, I really enjoyed Koyaanisqatsi but it would have been ten times better if they awkwardly tried to fit a half-baked dysfunctional-family plot into it?” If so great news, The Tree Of Life is the perfect movie for you.
The soundtrack is exquisite and the nature/geological footage is often incredible, but nobody’s going to be winning any Oscars for editing on this one.