The Tree of Life Forum

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I finally got around to watching tree of life the other day after hearing great things about from everyone who has seen it. As I said I only got 20-30 mins into the movie and had to stop. Normally I like these kinds of movie, but for some reason I could never get hooked in. I don't know if it was the lack of dialog, or crying babies but I just didn't care what happened next. Sure the movie looks great, and even only watching half an hour I kind of get the point of birth and death.

I was just wondering if anyone else had similar thoughts? At some point in the future maybe I go back again and try to rewatch it.

That's ok. Terrence Malick is like Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg). Guy makes films for a very particular audience, but that audience goes deep and is fanatical. Malick is similar to Maddin. They both know, they could bail to Hollywood to make mass market pulp, yet they choose to make the films they make.

If you don't like it, move on, it's ok.

Don't keep watching. I normally enjoy movies like this and the Tree of Life would have been the worst movie I saw this year if the Hangover Part 2 didn't exist.

thanks, makes me feel like I'm not alone. I was wondering if anyone was going to try and say something like it picks up or gets better, but I guess its the same throughout.

Actually, this is the first movie ever I walked out on. I left the theater after about 30 minutes. Yes, it was pretty, but that was everything. It was so painfully "artsy" filled with crap about life and all of its clichés. I also felt uneasy about the strong suggestive religious ideas they were forcing on me.

Anyway, I had enough of baby feet, slow shots of kids, and 10 minutes of space nebulas and similar things on our planet. "OOOH I SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME REALISE. WE ARE AAALLL SO SMAAAL IN THIS WORLLD! Oh you writer, you so clever -_-"

Anyway, me and my friend were not the only ones who left, there were like 10 others leaving. So for whatever reason you had, you weren't alone.

I hardly think you got the point he was trying to make about life and death with just the first 20 minutes. You didn't even get to the kid's story, which takes a huge bulk of the movie and is the central theme of the story.

But eh...to each their own.

I really liked it, but you have to be in a certain mood and mindset to watch and appreciate it. Many people won't like it no matter what mood they are in. If you weren't feeling it in the first twenty minutes, watching the rest probably won't help.

Every Malick movie is polarizing. Tree of Life probably more so than his other films. I really wish Malick would make an action movie. It'd be the strangest thing in the world but I'd love to see that. Won't ever happen though...

@BoFooQ said:

thanks, makes me feel like I'm not alone. I was wondering if anyone was going to try and say something like it picks up or gets better, but I guess its the same throughout.

It gets so much better! This is the problem with people and this movie. The first 20 minutes is strange, doesn't explain much, and is honestly pretty boring, but you have to stick through it! The creation of the universe sequence is visually incredible, and the film that follows it is one of the most interesting, and touching films that I have seen in recent memory. It is the Best Picture of the year in my opinion, and I believe one day it will be considered an overlooked classic.

Tree of Life is a film that tests the viewer, pushing him/her to actually (gasp) reflect on memories that most people have repressed. If you need dialogue shoved down your throat, then it isn't the movie for you. The film is an experience that pushes buttons, tapping into the raw emotions of growing up. If you are the type of person who has memories of what it was like to learn how the world worked as a child, the film WILL leave a lasting imprint, but you need to give it a chance. Majikboy chose to reduce the movie's meaning and walk out - cool, but don't take his reaction to the movie as a way to validate throwing in your own towel.

The first 30 minutes are the most painful and are designed to put you in the art movie mood. It works if you are locked in a dark theater.

I love a passive-aggressive post from an idiot who doesn't 'get' a film that is aimed well above their heads.

Maybe the fault is with you, have you ever considered that?

To each their own. As said above, he makes movies for a very specific audience. It's not about you not "getting" it. Anyone who says that is an idiot. If you didn't like it you didn't like it.

I personally thought it was fantastic.

I am the exact same I have tried three times now to watch it and just cannot get into and its not that I dont know about Terrence Malick I have watched The Thin Red Line and The New World but this just seems too much somehow.

It could be the fact I watch my movies on my computer and whenever I get bored(Poor choice of words) just switch onto the internet and stay on it. Hopefully one day I watch it all because its one I have wanted to watch for a while.

Eh, I can't help but get the feeling that viewers of the film who came out of it a little unimpressed are too afraid to reproach the film or to inveigh about it. I can't stand the avid Malick fans who feel the need to berate anybody who doesn't enjoy the film because they just don't 'get' it. Seriously, the fear of vituperations from the blind, sheepish masses is a salient issue. I mean, I'm sure that a bunch of people do genuinely enjoy the film, but I also feel confident in saying that a great majority of people are cautious of conveying their feelings for fear of being branded as un-intellectual or uninitiated; someone who can't appreciate 'high art'.

I enjoy Malick's work, but I typically have trouble getting through films like his -- usually break it up into 30 minute chunks. The 2+ hours of The Tree of Life went by fast, though.

Depends on the mood, I guess.

It wasn't for me. Well-put together but I couldn't stand it.

I recently sat down with my girlfriend and we watched this. She absolutely adored it, but I'm more on the fence about it. I liked the story, and I liked the interactions that were taken from a child's point of view. Especially the stuff that dealt with the inner dichotomy of the Father. One moment he is a loving, caring individual who is trying to teach his children how to get through life, and the next he is an abusive monster who terrorizes and manipulates them into submission. It left me feeling conflicted, and reminded me of growing up with an alcoholic, abusive stepfather. I totally get what Malick was going for, but I feel like the meat of the film was with the family during the protagonist's childhood, and the cool visual stuff with the birth of the universe was really just window dressing. The dinosaur segment, specifically, just felt weird and disjointed. It felt like someone telling a story, and then getting on a wildly off topic tangent. It looked good, but it wasn't necessary for the story being told.

And I'll come right out and say that the framing device of a middle aged man who has lost his beliefs, lost his faith, and is trying to figure out why and get it back was touching. You didn't need "fistfuls of dialogue," but I feel like if the film had a steadier pace it would've come out better for it.

So yeah, I guess I like The Tree of Life, but the twenty minute interludes (combined) about the birth of the universe and the son searching himself to find his faith and how it went wrong could've been told in shorter, sharper scenes. The ending especially is just... meh. I liked the way it ended, but I feel like it could've been shorter while getting the point across more effectively.

You got to endure past the first 20ish mins because once you get to the child's story it it becomes more of a film it is much better