The Tree of Life
Dir: Terrence Malick
2011
****
Terrence Malick is a great director. It's his money, it's his time, it's his film and I believe he is most welcome to his indulgences, as far as I'm concerned he's earned it after Badlands alone. The Tree of Life is visually stunning. Stunning. The 'Creation of life on Planet Earth' scene was awesome, it took a while to adjust to the jump from domestic violence one minute to Dinosaurs the next, but it excited me more than most films have in the last few years. I think the real problem is that because it switches from the bigger picture to the thoughts and memories of one character, it can confuse and put people off. I'm not a religious man, I'm an atheist in fact, so the religious element to the film did not really interest me, especially after the very scientific Darwinist birth of life sequence. In fact, the last scene came as quite a disappointment to me. I also hate whispering. The whispering and the constantly spinning camera annoyed me. I know it represented the distortion of memory etc but for me it made the film feel a little hollow and very much a case of style over substance. I base my star rating purely on the visuals, the Dinosaurs and the 20 minute creation scene. It is stunningly beautiful but I very much doubt I will ever watch it again.