The Tree of Life (2011) (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Posted elsewhere, this is indeed sad for such a need of notice at the movie theaters:

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Wow, that's... disgraceful that it was necessary. I don't blame the theater, obviously they had enough angry customers to need to do something, but man... what happened to the days when you'd go to see a movie, maybe you liked it, maybe you didn't, but you still enjoyed going out for the evening and had no objections to having spent a few bucks on the ticket? The only time I really feel it's completely appropriate/non-controversial to post a sign like that is if it's a) an unrated movie that's not intended for kids, just to make sure that message is clear and b) if the movie features extensive use of strobe lights which some people are extremely sensitive to, I think it's OK to give a warning about that (I've noticed they do that at a lot of concerts these days too).


But as far as needing to post a sign saying that a movie being shown is a little different from other movies being shown, that's a sad reflection on our time. It's been a few weeks since I saw The Tree Of Life, and my mind still isn't made up as to what I think about it - but I'm glad I went and experienced something different. And even with movies I've seen this year that I didn't like at all, I'd never think to ask for a refund. I chose to see it afterall, and the only way you discover hidden gems is if you're willing to give things a shot.

 

[dreama]

this is wonderful - seen bits of it on the net!!! cant wait to see it on the big screen!!! i would kill for a link to the screenplay/ script if anyone comes across it please

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Okay....


Can someone explain The Tree of Life to me?


This film was definitely a "WTF" moment for me.
I heard so many great things about it, and probably

like some, questioned why I was even still watching

it 1/4 into the film.


Even if there is no explanation to be had, can

someone at least put me on the right track?


There are spoilers here, but I am guessing that
anyone in this thread has already seen the film.

Do not proceed any further if you don't want to

know anything concerning the plot in advance.....


................................................................


So, at the beginning of the film, the Mother

receives a letter from the postman. It's obvious

it's bad news and that there has been a death.

My first thought was, it was her oldest son, Jack.


Thing is, why a letter?

She then questions life and where we came from

which prompts this overly extended sequence of

images depicting the creation of life. We also
look at Jack's life from infancy to boyhood.


And why is Sean Penn in this movie? It seems

as if he is looking for something or someone. At

first, I thought in a parallel story, he lost a daughter.


Then I read the description of the upcoming Blu-ray...




So Sean Penn is older Jack? Wow. Never made

that connection. Did the film even attempt to have

audiences make that connection?


And what is with the film's final moments? Is that

heaven where everyone comes together?

From Terrence Malick, the acclaimed director of such classic films as BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN and THE THIN RED LINE, THE TREE OF LIFE is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

I hate to sound like an idiot, but I just couldn't
figure this film out. Yet, it was strikingly beautiful

to watch and I am very surprised that I sat through

the whole thing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Spoiler Alert so don't read the following if you haven't seen this film and you expect to in the near future.


























Ronbo,


My take on the film is this that the mother received a telegram telling her the middle son was killed in the Vietnam War at the age of 19.


She questions God and her belief in him. Years later after her death, the adult Jack played by Penn is having his problems regarding life and his relationship with God. IMO, the ending of the film is heaven in which families are seeking out other family members as they get together one last time.


A strange film with some beautiful images and a great soundtrack to match, but it's not for everyone. Personally, I think the various nature shots were too long in the first 45 minutes of the film and would probably lose some of it's audience waiting for the real story to begin about the family.

 

[Vincent_P]

SOME SPOILERS BELOW. Re: Penn being Jack as an adult. This is shown (not told) to the viewer via shot of Jack as a boy and Penn's voice-over saying, "I see myself as a child." It's not explicitly said (or told) how the middle brother died, but given the timeframe (the main body of the film takes place in the mid-1950s, and Penn says in voiceover "My brother died when he was 19" which would place his death about 9 years after the mid-50s section) and that the news was delivered via telegram, it's logical to surmise he was likely killed in Vietnam. What this film is a great example of is "show don't tell". It asks the audience to pay attention and figure things out based on visual and aural cues rather than explicitly laying everything out in black and white. This has been lost in most filmmaking which demands the easy-to-follow 3-act structure with familiar character archs, etc. Example of "show don't tell" in the film- we're never explicitly told which brother died*, but it's clear it's the middle one for various reasons. For example, in the opening scene as Chastain is giving the "nature vs. grace" voice over- at one point she says something like, "They taught us that nobody who lived by grace could come to a bad end" which is placed over shot of the middle brother, which is followed almost immediately by the delivery of the letter. Throughout the film we then see the middle brother living according to "grace" while Jack exhibits "nature". It's obviously not a film for everyone, but I think serious filmgoers should give it a chance, give themselves over to it and take the trip. You might love it, you might hate it, but those of us who have responded to it seem to have responded to it very deeply. Vincent *Actually this is pretty clear at the end when the characters converge on the beach.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Vincent,


I guess I wasn't paying attention, because I absolutely

missed the connection between young and adult Jack

as well as the voice-over explaining the brother's death.


Listen, I'm not criticizing the film nor the people that

enjoyed it. I mean, I was tempted to walk away from

it a short time after the "creation" sequence began, but

I was somewhat intrigued enough by the beauty of the

film and the curiosity of getting to the message that I

hung in there. It's unfortunate, however, that I had to

find the message on this forum afterwards.

 

[Vincent_P]

Ronald: If you still have the Blu-ray, check out 12:58 through 13:42. This section pretty much answers all of the questions you have asked here. Vincent

 

[SamT]

I could swear I wrote about this movie, about the extended cut in this forum but I don't see it. Probably it was in a non Tree of Life thread.

Tonight I finally saw the Extended Cut, 3 hours. I was disappointed. If I have not changed a lot I feel like the theatrical cut was the better version. I will watch again the 2 hours version some time later and see.

The extended cut, I loved the first hour. So beautiful, such a great music. Each shot was unique and did not look like your standard movie shot. Like they carefully designed and spent time on it.

The second and the third hour was way too long and dragged. I was fully ready and intended to see the movie with no "story" and just enjoy the pictures and the score but even with that mind set, the last 2 hours was too much and too long. This is an uninformed guess but I bet most of the extended cuts were in those hours.

Again, I love this movie, the imagery and the score.