The Tree Of Life

“The Meandering Of Life”

Famously boo’d at Cannes earlier this year, “The Tree Of Life”, Terrence Malick’s fifth film in nearly as many decades, is a 2-and-a-half-hour meandering, lifeless bore. Describing it as cinematic poetry is accurate, but not much of a recommendation.

Despite starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, this movie has precious little dialogue. Most of the screen time is taken up with Malick’s vision of Earth’s creation. In a scene that feels like an eternity, Malick takes us from the birth of our Earth through dinosaurs and eventually humans populating the planet. This is the pretentious and overly ambitious prelude to a story about a midwestern couple coping with the death of one of their sons. How he died, we are never told. Birth is a more important detail in this movie than death.

I don’t have anything against super-arty filmmakers with lofty, epic ambitions. But Malick’s cosmic visuals are surprisingly unimaginative. Everything looks familiar. Like scenes from countless other movies. If there’s copyright-free library stock footage of the beginning of time, it would look like the stuff in this movie. It’s like Malick was working with a CGI-starter kit.

Edited with a peculiar sense of randomness, many might wonder if Malick has lost most of his marbles by now. There are far too many moments of lengthy black-screen nothingness. If Malick’s intention was to immerse his audience in a deep black hole, his attempt is thwarted by the fact that whenever the screen is black the audience focuses on the green-glowing exit signs on either side of the screen.

If you’re the adventurous type who wants to give this film a chance, see it at off hours when the theater is likely to be less crowded. I viewed this film with a packed audience. The steady and constant exit of audience members was a continual distraction. By the time the film finally ended, there were only 12 people left in the theater. You have been warned.

DVD Double Feature:

With 2011’s “The Tree Of Life”, Terrence Malick has now made five films. My favorite of the five was his second film, 1978’s “Days Of Heaven”. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams are lovers who claim to be brother and sister for the purpose of keeping their jobs on a farm. When their employer Sam Shepard falls in love with Adams, this triangle becomes tricky. Clocking in at a reasonable 93 minutes, this is a work from Terrence Malick’s better days.