The Tree Of Life
Wow. That is one of the easiest words to utter after seeing a movie like The Tree Of Life. To say anything else would be a surprise. I can assure you, if you watch this movie, it will be unlike any movie you have seen before. The movie is so ridiculously different, for people watching it, I doubt there is any middle ground. No one is going to watch it and go “Eh, was okay. Kinda good, kinda lame”. No, the only responses you could possibly get are very good, or very bad.
I am fully with the latter.
I hope my opinion isn’t universe shattering for you.
Alright. First off the plot is pretty loose. In real people time lines, I think it is about Sean Penn, an adult, thinking about his upbringing as a child. His parents were radically different, his mother a hippy, his dad, Brad Pitt, very stern and strict.
And uh yeah. Scenes of him growing up. Hanging out with friends. Getting into trouble. Being mad at the dad. Being mad at the mom. Being mad at siblings. Missing the dad. Etc.
Also, a couple times in the movie they switch to the universe. Being born. Making planets. Life beginning on the planet. Animals moving from sea to land. Killing other animals. And near the end, I think the sun exploding, earth ending. ANd other WoOOoOoOooooOoo space stuff.
Throughout the movie is a lot of operatic / religious music, and random people (narrators?) asking questions. This is true for both the real life and space scenes. The real life scenes are meant to like snapshots of life, small scenes, built together. Lot of camera angles changing.
Life?
Obviously the movies not about the actors in it. Also, not about making a traditional movie narrative. You either “get it” or you don’t. I didn’t get it. Probably just means I am not smart? I dunno.
This film is WAY TOO ARTSY. And out there. I just can’t imagine recommending it to any one of my friends for an enjoyable experience.
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I’m actually one of the few people who can’t make up his mind about this film… I liked all the epic scenes of the Universe, but I thought they weren’t balanced into the narrative at all. I loved the story of the boys growing up and the tensions with their father and love for their mother… but I didn’t see any point to the scenes with Sean Penn and was rolling my eyes at the end of the film with the scenes of what I suppose was the afterlife. There was some phenomenal stuff in this film, but the artsy stuff really detracted from it.
The Universe scenes were definitely very pretty / neat. But comparing it to that kids life?
The ending I also thought was way super long, and just had intense music and people on a beach. Symbolism? Got it. Overall point of it? I am willing to dismiss and call trash.