Hmmm...where to begin with this overtly artistic visual feast. I guess it is what it is. Terrence Malick's film opus to life itself, from beginning to end, is a sight to behold. Unfortunately, that's mostly all there is to behold is the sights. The cinematography is stunning, with each shot meticulously planned and each angle chosen to maximize appeal to the viewer's eyes. It's a film geeks dream, you can almost hear the ohs and ahs as you take it all in. And on that level it succeeds masterfully, but it's elsewhere that it falls short.
The sort of days, weeks, months, in the lives approach to the central characters and their story, if you can call it that, leaves a bit to be desired for the audience. As you watch the beautiful scenes, you feel as though you're waiting for the story to begin. And waiting, and waiting, particularly as we venture back through the development of the world from big bang to dinosaurs to present day. When we do finally get to some semblance of story, it's very vague and sorely lacking in narrative. A father (Brad Pitt) struggles with anger, disciplining his children, and dominating his wife. And the kids struggle with resentment of their father as a result. And other than a present day off shoot, there's little to bring any resolution, closure, or even an ending to it all.
Unfortunately, an abstract tale about the circle of life is not enough to make an engaging film. Even with all the amazing imagery and masterful direction. It is directed well technically, just not artistically in terms of the art of story telling. The film will be a shoe in to win an Oscar for cinematography, and rightly so with the work put in by Malick and Emmanuel Lubzkei. So, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a moving picture still needs to arrange those words into an interesting story.
2 out of 5
Find The Tree of Life on Netflix
Film Details at IMDB
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