(Also known by its alternate title: WTF: THE MOVIE…)
CAST: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Laramie Eppler, Hunter McCracken, Tye Sheridan, Joanna Going.
DIRECTOR: Terence Malick
WARNING: Some cerebral aneurysms lying in wait for the unwary - straight ahead…
This past two weeks were an interesting one for me as an armchair movie critic. A week from last Monday night, a friend and I ventured out to see THE TREE OF LIFE. Then, this past week, another pal and I went to see TRANSFORMERS 3. I don’t have to tell you folks that these two flicks are pretty much on diametric opposites of the cinematic spectrum. In other words, seeing THE TREE OF LIFE and TRANSFORMERS 3 nearly back-to-back is like going on a speed-dating night with Mother Teresa and Jenna Jameson.
The trailers for THE TREE OF LIFE are the first sign that we shouldn’t be expecting any transforming robots or Victoria’s Secret models trying to make us forget Megan Fox. Or, to put it more succinctly, knowing is going to mistake this flick for a Michael Bay production anytime soon. In fact, this is the kind of film that would face off against ARMAGEDDON, BAD BOYS, THE ROCK, THE ISLAND, TRANSFORMERS 1-3, and any other Michael Bay-inspired action kablam-fest, if films were sentient beings capable of re-enacting the gang-war scene in WEST SIDE STORY.
But I digress. It’s going to be hard to try to parse the plot of the THE TREE OF LIFE, since it’s about as oblique a face-down book. But here goes: Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien (Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain) and their three boys (Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan), are your average middle-class family in Texas in the 1950’s. Average, that is, if every other family in town has an abusive father for a breadwinner. Yes, folks… Mr. O’Brien is kind of a prick. And no one knows this more than his oldest son, who gets the brunt of Pop’s anger.
Think you know where this flick is heading? You have no idea. Suffice it to say, the “troubled family” angle is just a framework for additional themes and plot threads that include: (1) planets being born, (2) the sun firing sunspots, (3) alien planets, (4) velociraptors facing off against stegosaurs, and (5) more stuff that just might make you turn to the person next to you and say: “Did we smoke a bowl before leaving the house and not realize it?”
Yes, folks. Your mind will be blown. And not in the pleasurable way that makes you walk funny for days afterwards….
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Director Terrence Malick has only made five films in his 38-year career. He is also famously private and doesn’t speak about them to the press as much as other directors and filmmakers do. As a result, he’s a bit of a mysterious figure, and so are his films, which tend to be far removed from your average cookie-cutter Hollywood product. As a result, audiences are left to their own devices to piece together the puzzle of his cinematic stories. None of his films are more enigmatic than THE TREE OF LIFE, though…
I was frustrated while watching THE TREE OF LIFE. Moments of sheer brilliance and emotional clarity were juxtaposed with entire passages that left me puzzled and confused. Add to this a leaden pace (not always a bad thing) and repeated use of “fade to black” transitions, and I found myself wishing the movie would end early. I even did something I haven’t done in a very long time: I looked at my phone to see what time it was. I didn’t even do that for PREDATORS.
Why, then, did I give THE TREE OF LIFE a rating of **** (very good)? Well, let’s just say that the friend whom I saw the film with engaged me in a conversation about it afterwards. I told him that parts I liked, and the parts I didn’t like. Then something wonderful occurred: as I was discussing the puzzling parts with him, it all fell into place. I suddenly got the film. And I realized what Terrence Malick was going for. Or, considering he never comments on his intentions, what I think he was going for.
I don’t want to say any more, except that parsed down to its core, this film is about how we as humans can be more than what nature intends us to be. And more than the hurdles that life has thrown our way. You can be small, bitter, cynical, mistrustful, brittle, paranoid. Or you can turn your back on people like that and be the change you want to see in the world. Being a realist doesn’t mean becoming bitter and cynical. That is a lamentable misconception. Being a realist is seeing the flaws in life and people - but not letting that be your overall guiding principle. It’s about seeing the negative, taking note of it, then releasing it, and not letting it turn you into a brittle shell - and choosing to believe that something better is a possibility. Not a certainty (that would be idealism), but a possibility.
That’s what I got out of the THE TREE OF LIFE. Of course, I believed all those things before. It’s nice to know that Terrence Malick, one of our most gifted cinematic artists, is of the same mind. And let me add that the cast is excellent. Brad Pitt actually made me forget that he is Brad Pitt, while Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn are equally good. Chastain, in particular, more than holds her own against her more established co-stars. Praise must also be heaped on the trio of child actors who play the three young sons of the film's central couple. Tye Sheridan, Hunter McCracken, and Laramie Eppler are all terrific, and hopefully will forge solid careers in the future...
See this movie now, if you don’t mind puzzles that take some time to solve. Do not see it if your favorite movie was ARMAGEDDON or THE ROCK. You just may not survive…
