Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Tree of Life

Terrence Malick

For about 40 minutes I watched cinematic poetry unfold before my eyes. Stunning imagery, music, thoughts, exquisite editing rhythm...this was as good as cinema gets.

Then he slowed the pace down and got bogged down in the story of the family going through their trials in Waco Texas in the 50's...almost certainly autobiographical. Nothing here clunked...it all served as a superb evocation of that time and place...but the momentum was lost...never regained.

He tried to pick it up again toward the end but it didn't work. Neither did the whole sequence with Sean Penn as one of the children all grown.

So it didn't completely work. Too bad. Re-edited he could assemble a 90 minute film that would be among the very best ever made. But a fine effort as is.

7

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