I know I’m late on seeing “The Tree of Life” but I am glad that I waited. I’m just going to say it…this movie is TERRIBLE! There have been few films that I have seen that have actually brought me to a boiling point but this film is going on my personal shit list. Terrence Malick had to have paid off someone to get so many positive reviews for this film.
I understood the premise and the message the movie was sending to the audience but there was too much effort in making this film a deep think piece. I love subtleties in film and underlying themes that can only be uncovered by those who are truly watching a film, but these underlying themes distance the audience from key elements such as character development and an actual plot. Movies still have to have some elements that are apparent to the audience because if you go too deep eventually the audience can’t come up for air and will drowned in all the bullshit. “The Tree of Life” is honestly a pretentious piece of shit. We understand the “circle of life” theme because it’s been done so many times, but I honestly think that people were afraid to say they didn’t like this film because it was so deep and they didn’t want to be someone who didn’t factor in the underlying theme in their review.
Spoiler alert, don’t read any further if you haven’t seen this film. This film is about a man’s internal conflict of dealing with the loss of a sibling earlier in his life and the impact of his parent’s different methods of parenting. Great plot for a dramatic movie until you throw in a bunch of abruptly random scenes of nature and space that are surrounded by whispering of the words “Mother” and “Father” over and over again. Not to mention you see the damn ‘tree of life’ image every thirty seconds. The one good thing I will say is that there were some great shots but there were also some amazing shots in the “Planet Earth” documentary and I would prefer David Attenborough or Sigourney Weaver providing commentary rather than hearing the same words whispered throughout the film.
I’m not going to be one of those who pretends this is a good film because Terrence Malick wants to show off how profound of an artist he can be. In dissecting this film there are so many elements that are weakened because of the focus on the overall theme. I know there is going to be disagreement but for the general public…STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS FILM!
