[Visual of Interest] Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life"

[Jetée]

One of the Seventies most celebrated auteurs, the enigmatic Terrence Malick is
notorious for his stingy filmography. Until now, and since releasing 'Badlands' in
1973, a contemplative meditation on obsessive love and true crime, the director
has only made three other films: the visually stunning 'Days of Heaven' in 1978;
1998’s 'The Thin Red Line', still the most poetic treatment of the psychological
casualties of modern warfare; and, just three years ago, The New World, a lush,
painstaking examination of explorer John Smith. Which is why the relatively quick
arrival of Tree of Life, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, not
only comes as a pleasant surprise, but makes one wonder if the 67 year-old director
senses that time knows no respect for a slow-moving muse. READ MORE …


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film overview...

TIME Newsfeed:

“The long-awaited impressionistic film – pulled from last year's Cannes at the last
minute – stole the show [earlier this season] with the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize.
Malick's Tree of Life follows the evolution of an 11-year-old boy from a small Texas town
(mirroring Malick's own upbringing in Waco) who's just lost a sibling. His parents, dis-
traught over the unexplained death of their child, respond in divergent ways while both
focusing on the grief and the glory of raising children. Starring Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and
Jessica Chastain, the actors play a backseat role to the stunning sensual experience Malick
creates with an abstract view of the creation of the cosmos. It's clear that even from the
trailer, [* -] this film will be one to thrill viewers both visually and intellectually.”