The Tree of Life

Started by modage, January 28, 2009, 06:54:07 PM

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squints

Tweets are already starting to pour in (its 4am central time here),
follow @thedailyMUBI (http://twitter.com/#!/thedailyMUBI) for more,

some choice ones:

RT @davecalhoun And so it came to pass that Tree of Life was a pretty, heartfelt but preachy folly of universal proportions. #Cannes

RT @cobblehillis I love me some Malick, but THE FOUNTAIN > TREE OF LIFE. #Cannes

RT @ZeitchikLAT Tree of Life: Many will find it metaphysical & poetic, tho some may think it fragmented & showy.

RT @KarstenM The Tree of Life: Do NOT think a tweet can express this film... I'll keep it with me and return to it my whole life.

Interesting look at his career and things leading up to TOL:
http://nymag.com/movies/features/terrence-malick-2011-5/

EDIT:

RT @eug TREE OF LIFE. A movie I'd love to sit down & watch again right now. It's beautiful, dense. Love the music so much. Some idiot booed.

RT @OnTheCroisette This is my favorite Malick film. Period.

LOL! i'll stop.

I will now ignore everything said about this movie til it comes out.
Gonna go watch The Thin Red Line now....
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

children with angels

Xan Brooks of The Guardian: "Loud booing at end of Malick's Tree of Life but I loved it. Book of Revelations by way of Main St. Almost ridiculous, always sublime."
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

Gold Trumpet

Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribue: "The Tree of Life pretentious, sometimes exasperating--& quite a marvel, w a tough, astute father-son rel. at its poetic core. More later."

Time Out review (3 stars out of 5): http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/88572/the-tree-of-life.html

Pwaybloe


Reel

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on May 16, 2011, 06:12:06 AM
Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribue: "The Tree of Life pretentious, sometimes exasperating--& quite a marvel, w a tough, astute father-son rel. at its poetic core. More later."

I fuckin' hate Michael Phillips, he's such a douche. Never has anything good to say.

Pas

I've seen people on Twitter call it too pentecostalist and shit like that. Never seen anyone call a movie too muslim though. Christians get all the shit.

I'm not surprised that it would not be universal praise, but I'm surprised by 3 stars review. I thought it would 5s and 1-2s.

The only valid reviews for this will come from here I guess. Will it really be too obvious, too preachy? I for one never once in my life thought a movie was too preachy. Crash was awful not because it preached too much, it was awful because what it preached was fucking stupid.

Maybe lines like in the trailer: ''if you don't love, your life will flash you by'' are really omnipresent in the film. Some think these are platitudes. I don't know, I kinda like that shit.

I fear not. No, a bit. I would've loved CMBB-type praise. But the stuff people hate about it so far are really things that do no matter at all to me. Not enough dialogue and stuff like that. I mean, go watch TV for god's sake if you want to hear people talk so much.

Let's talk about it all day guys

Pubrick

yes let's talk about it and never stop.

i love that article where they said he built 3 houses exactly the same so he could choose based on the light on a given day. this is NOT a film that can be reviewed in the usual sense. i think there's some movies, not just malicks, where the conventional system of consumption and instant regurgitation that goes with film criticism just doesn't apply. you see it with kubrick movies, all the initial reviews are always wrong.. there's no way you can stomach a LIFETIME OF FEASTS in one sitting.

this movie will be very much like its namsake.. in order to get at its full meaning you will need to sit under it like a yogi for years on end.
under the paving stones.

Pas

Yes.

Also, some critics complained that it's simplistic and filled with platitudes.

People tend to believe that more complicated means deeper. Everything important seems simple yet reveal more as you dig into it. How would simple folk manage otherwise? Take chess for exemple: 10 minutes to learn, a lifetime to master. That is the nature of really deep things.

Tree of life might confound pseudo-intellectuals.

socketlevel

Lets wait until we see it. It might suck, it might not. I've enjoyed/loved all his films but you never know this could be his bonfire of the vanities.
the one last hit that spent you...

Pas

Quote from: socketlevel on May 16, 2011, 09:39:17 AM
Lets wait until we see it. It might suck, it might not. I've enjoyed/loved all his films but you never know this could be his bonfire of the vanities.

Are you stupid? I'm sorry that was harsh. We are not talking about Brian de fucking Palma here. Read this article and comprehend the genius at work:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/runaway-genius-199812

Edit: damn that article is long, just click the link!

Pas

hahaha yeah classic case of tl;dr... I edited it out and put a link.

might be bonfire of the vanities...  :nono:

socketlevel

It's not harsh. I just think without having seen it, you're kind of thinking stupid (though my post wasn't directed at you, but since you're singling yourself out it might appear that way now). The amount of gushing on this thread, touting it a masterpiece and how it will be seen/remembered is kind of stupid. I haven't read anything either, and while i like some critics and their reviews, I've never agreed with any person on every film.

The only annoying thing that will come out of this is when it's a great film or even masterful someone says "see socketlevel, you stupid idiot, it was great..." when all I'm saying is cool your breeches budzo, if anything you'll just set yourself up for disappointment.

I'll be the first to admit it's amazing, and i hope it is. I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't do that. I care less and less about "calling it" these days.
the one last hit that spent you...

socketlevel

Oh and the bonfire of the vanities thing is an analogy, don't read it directly. I could have said heaven's gate or something of the like for other directors. bonfire and heaven's gate both represent a directors big epic that drastically fell on it's face because the scope got out of control and the film got away from them. I would have assumed you'd pick up on that.
the one last hit that spent you...

Pubrick

this goes back to me saying this will cause mass enlightenment.

obviously i'm joking!

i don't know about anyone else but when i start hyperbolizing about movies i haven't seen i'm just doing it cos it's fun and easy to go off on an a tangent about the (im)possible heights a film may achieve. and it can only be done before the movie is seen because it allows plausible denial of the realities and imperfections that every film (except for dr strangelove, 2001, barry lyndon, the shining, full metal jacket, eyes wide shut, boogie nights, magnolia, punch drunk love, chere mill be blood, badlands, days of heaven, the thin red line, the new world and the tree of life) inevitably carries with it.
under the paving stones.

Pas

About the gushing etc. Lack of enthusiasm is a character trait that annoys me. The anticipation is often as good as the experience.

Anyway.... you can always count on the french to get it. Great french review:

http://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18604172.html

I'll translate-summarize an interesting spoiler-free bit:

Continuité et évolution. Terrence Malick poursuit son œuvre, et prend de plus en plus de risques : quand on choisit ainsi le parti de la beauté, de l'amour et cette forme sublime de naïveté (au sens ancien et noble), on s'expose forcément à la moquerie des cyniques, sachant que la confrérie des critiques assemblés à Cannes en compte un joli nombre – bien ingénus parfois dans leur cynisme. C'était le cas pour Le Nouveau monde, taxé par certains de mièvrerie, et cela le sera plus encore pour ce Tree of Life d'un lyrisme et d'une ambition folles.

---

Terrence Malick continue his canon and takes more risk: when you choose to bet on beauty, love and a sublime and ancient form of ''naiveté'', you expose yourself to the mockery of cynics. Knowing the brotherhood of Cannes critics have a good number of them, it is not surprising they accused New World of soppyness and they will do so even more with Tree of Life, a crazily ambitious lyrical piece.

This movie will cause mass enlightenment. (that part may or may not be added by me)

Seriously though, it is what I suspected. Cynical pseudo-intellectuals hate it. Should be great.