Now Playing: Tree of Life (2011)

I've seen and read a lot of reviews on Tree of Life. All of them, and I mean 100% of the reviews, said they wouldn't recommend people go see it, simply because it was so unlike a normal movie that there is no way of telling if a person will like it or not. This of course meant that I HAD to see it! Of course, this also meant that I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into due to all the reviews I had heard about it. Only one question remained, would I like it? More after the jump.


This is usually is the part where I give you a brief summary of the story so you can get a rough idea what the film is about, and maybe if you want to see it. Well, that's my goal when I do it anyways. So the story in Tree of Life is... well it's kinda about... OK, so it actually doesn't have a story. Not in the traditional sense of the word at least. There are themes, and there are ideas. There are even scenes with events taking place. But that's kinda the best you can hope for. Towards the end there is a bit more of a narrative, but it's really what you make of it and not really something that can be said, since I think everyone will probably read/see this film differently.

But there are other things besides the story that I can talk about, such as the acting, the look and the music. All three are brilliant, although the music is going to be more subjective to your tastes than the others. If you've seen the trailer, than you have a good idea what the music will be like. Classical type orchestras and some opera for good measure. I know some people that love that stuff, but I also know plenty who don't. If I was to say anything, it at least seemed to fit the film.

Brad Pitt walks and talks with his eldest son

The primary acting roles are held by Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. There are also a number of kids, and one plays a pretty big part in the film and is possibly the main character, but the people that I noticed the most were the adults. Brad Pitt did a great job as usual as the father of the family in the film. Jessica Chastain has the role of his wife, and mother to their 3 sons. Penn is actually one of the sons fully grown and in their future. It was odd that Penn actually didn't have a very large role in the movie, even though he's billed second, but I guess they had to do everything they could to sell tickets. Most of the time spent with the family is in the 50's era with Brad and Jessica raising their children, from infancy to young teens. Pitt played mostly the same note for the whole film of the tough father, but there were a few strong moments when he breaks out of that.

Rocks. They look cool, but I have no idea why they show up.

The effects, or the look of the film, bring us into some of the more odd parts. Throughout the film, not only are the moments in time for the family generally jumbled up and out of order, but there are also sections which are simply scenes of space, and those of nature. Waterfalls, volcanoes, forests, rock formations, stars, planets, nebula and what appears to be the surface of the Sun. There's even a few dinosaurs tossed into the mix. Everything in the film, no matter how odd or out of place or abstract it seems, is unarguably gorgeous!

Now, I want to talk about what I saw as the 3 major themes. Actually, I'm not sure if "theme" is the right term, but stay with me. These 3 parts are the family, nature, and outer space. I primarily convinced myself to go see this movie because I knew there were amazing shots of nature and dinosaurs and space. I knew the film had zero plot and that was OK with me, because one thing I love is photography. Give me a good photo and I can spend an endless amount of time admiring it.

If you think this is great, imagine it in motion!!

The problem I had with Tree of Life is that it is mostly about the family, and nature. Sure the family stuff is good, and amazing pictures of trees and crashing waves are great, but I really wished there was FAR more space scenes. What there were, weren't terribly long when compared to all the rest. And don't get me started on the dinosaurs. Let me just say, if you're going partly to see the dinos, they are the most brief of all of it. This made me a sad panda.

So, it's time for me to answer that ultimate of questions. Did I like it?

I'm not sure to be honest. It's true, the best answer I can come up with is "I don't know." I didn't hate it, cause I really liked the great images and the family stuff was alright, but to be honest I didn't get anything dramatic or life altering out of it. I didn't find myself weeping at religious undertones or have any revelations. I did however have to fight off falling asleep a few times. It's long, and you can feel it. I can tell you this, anyone who doesn't like religion will probably hate this film. In fact I saw no less than 3 people walk out of the theater during the movie, and there were less than 20 people to start with.

If you're going to see this, it's totally up to you and no one in their right minds can tell you what to do. Some people absolutely love this movie and get tons out of it and it connects to them in ways it might never connect to the person sitting beside them. But really, all I wanted was more space.