Movie Poster...
there were more than one & as well will be more than one cover for the DVD I'm guessing too
Tree of Life
Directed by Terrence Malick
139 min's
AcA 7:30 - 10:30pm
Sat Nov 19, 2011
Southern Screen Film Festival 2011
Winner of the Cannes Palme d'Or
OK--reasons I went to see this film...
1) saw the trailer on TV & was curious
2) Brad Pitt I recognized & he looked serious
3) missed all the other Southern Screen Film Festival films
4) free & I like AcA theater a lot
When you think Tree of Life - you, or I, thought of the Family Tree first off...
so there was that in the film, Yes there was a family - Mom, Dad, Son 1, 2, 3 & at least 1 dog
But there was another Tree of Life - a really old as the earth type one, inbetween the chapters of the regular family tree (not to say this family was regular...)
Above it all was indeed fantastic & spectacular & extremely well crafted cinematic or just plain captivating images...the dialogue in/out of the family, not so much--but perhaps that was the point in part...it is not a film to listen to, but to visually comprehend, to settle down & have soak into you over 2 plus hours - or that's the feeling I got & at times thought I might cry, but then I didn't have time before I was led down another 'branch' of this twin tree...
Wrapped around all that was also a mystery--did we all solve it in the end? hmmm...am not so sure, unless I cheat & read either the script or perhaps an interview of the actors or the director to find out - just who was it that died (will not give it away, if I could or if I knew for sure--but I guessed a brother & it wasn't the oldest son...while after the film I overheard at least one person considering it could of been the middle brother...) But really in the whole of the film I ask myself "does it matter" - not really, except we like to make tidy the ends of things (many of us like as well happy endings, was there one in this film? Well, there was the beach & in my book that's "happy"?!)
From the catalog:
Selections
Tree of Life
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 reconsile 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.
Link to Southern Screen Film Festival 2011...Nov 17 - 20...
http://southernscreen.org/
And I'd forgotten those many of few lines about nature & grace...
The film does not go in what I consider a linear line - in either the 1950's world of the boy or in the adult world of the oldest son or in the construction/deconstruction of the earth inbetween...
Possibly it reads in the eyes like a book, chapters, but not while reading the details of the book...after you've read the book & either daydreaming back on it or just remembering it in bits & pieces...
To add to that feeling of chapters, say in the family history or the earth's history (what they've written up as 'life' or 'all life') there is a moment of silence & a flame...now is that the spark of life, the flame of life--the one inside say a person or the one also inside the earth's core or center...or is it a ghostly, shimmering flame of time passing by - for humans or the earth...
Back to Brad Pitt & Sean Penn--really I almost feel like they were nearly a backdrop for these brothers...these children, who were so much more than actors - that line dissolved for me & they were these children, these three brothers & together they were very solid in their 1950's world...perhaps too it's because I grew up at that time & have some distance fondness for it now in this other family's rememberings (or the director's portrayal of the story into film of that part of the family tree...)
It was hard to sit through this film at times, if you didn't let yourself go--because you were pulled between these ethereal sections & of the twining of the family tree of life versus/alongside perhaps the earth's tree of life...actually a couple 2 seats down from mine got up to leave before it was over, because I think the man of the two couldn't deal with either figuring it out or waiting/being patient or there was something in that family relationship he couldn't face (am only guessing - for all I know it could of been he'd had enough to drink from the bar beforehand...)
There must be something of a nature in the film for it to be the Winner of the Cannes Palme d'Or - which now I will have to go look up the Cannes Film Festival & see what the Golden Palm is awarded for...
From Wikipedia...
"The Palme d'Or (English: Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film. From 1964 to 1974, it was replaced once again, by the Grand Prix du Festival...."
Link to the Festival de Cannes...
http://www.festival-cannes.fr/
Link to the trailers...all the ones that didn't win & the last in the lineup, The Tree of Life--the one that did win...
http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/trailers.html
Link to the ultimate film festival trophy - the palme d'or - created by Chopard now for Cannes...
Here too is a video of the making of the palme d'or/golden palm...
http://www.chopard.com/cannes2011/
Link to the film's--official site...
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thetreeoflife/
Link to 2 ways thru life...photo stills series from The Tree of Life film...
http://twowaysthroughlife.tumblr.com/
(note: even they say 'two ways' - while I said 'twin')
the scene at the beach, here only the Mom walking on the white sands...
Jessica Chastain is the actress who played the Mom
Experience Two Ways Through Life
Two Ways Through Life.com... http://www.twowaysthroughlife.com/
(note: click on the Mother's Way or the Father's Way & you can see clips from the film)
Tumblr.com... http://twowaysthroughlife.tumblr.com/post/4808579970/04-21-2011
Official film webpage... http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thetreeoflife/
An essay about the director...
Things to Look Into:
The Cinema of Terrence Malick
by Adrian Martin
Link to the essay...
http://www.rouge.com.au/10/malick.html
(note: of previous films, read no mention of this current one - I'm not reading it as I may want to see these other films, at least one to compare, to get a better feel for the director & without bias from this or other essays/reviews...)
Link to Wiki about the director...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrence_Malick
(note: where I thought I would find a photo of him, only to read he's a very private - or famously protective of his private life - so there is none & often in his contract there will be this stipulation...also here I read from his early life, what could be the family story/plot in The Tree of Life - 3 brothers, 1 plays the guitar, 1 dies...& under film career, that The Tree of Life was filmed in part in Smithville, TX & Waco, TX which I don't know that part of TX, but I do know Houston & Austin, TX...that last city - in the 'hill country' of TX - being where the director went to school, so you can understand the background/backdrop of the film's location for him...)
Link to Internet Movie Database...to read more about the director & there's a photo?!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000517/
photo credit: IMDb - during the filming of The Thin Red Line
Link to full credits for the film, all cast & crew...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/fullcredits
(note: so I could find the name of the child actor who played the oldest son, Jack & his two brothers - the middle son & the youngest son...Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan - are the 3 child actors, only 1 of which - the youngest - do they show a photo of here on this link...)
Link to IMDb photo of what I think are the 3 brothers with Brad Pitt & wife (yes, I know who she is--but this is not about her is it) at a showing of The Tree of Life most likely, taken in June of this year - it seems boys do grow & oddly enough I think the oldest brother is the one I wouldn't of recognized...
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1286716928/nm4446467
Link to another photo--if only because I am curious & this one is of the whole film 'family' reunion in real time at the same LACMA - The Tree of Life showing...
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2779889152/nm4446467
Note: Photo's lacking due to wondering if I'll get into trouble or not--some I did try & there must be a block, so you'll have to click on the links to see for yourself...or watch the film?!
Link to the already Wikipedia about The Tree of Life film...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tree_of_Life_(film)
Link to Amazon.com Instant Video (which I didn't know was an option) - for just $1.99 for a 48 hr rental or buy the movie starting at $14.99...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tree-Of-Life/dp/B005MP28B2/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1322377940&sr=1-2
Note: did you catch that--for only $1.99 you can watch this film, for a 2 day rental online...
No comments:
Post a Comment