The Tree of Life

Being out of town last week prevented me from seeing any movies Monday through Friday but, as promised, I did see The Tree of Life on Saturday and wanted to share my thoughts. My boyfriend has anticipated this movie's release two years prior to its coming out this summer. His constant excitement and updates on how the movie had been received at festivals, and how the movie was made had gotten me very excited for the movie too. He even Netflix-ed other Terrence Malick movies for me to watch so I'd be more familiar with his movie style before we saw The Tree of Life. I have to say out of the two movies we watched, The Thin Red Line and Badlands, I was perplexed at Malick's movie style. I hated The Thin Red Line, how it rambled, and how all over the place it was; and I liked Badlands for it's simplicity and storytelling. I thought with one of my favorite actors, Brad Pitt, in The Tree of Life, that somehow this movie would come out enjoyable in the end.

But being a week out from seeing The Tree of Life, I'm still not sure what to make of it. It was like a scientific nature movie, a boyhood journal, and a dream about your past, all rolled into one. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. I loved the look and feel of the movie:  the parts set in the hot summer nights of Texas, the way you could really imagine yourself as a child in those situations or how your parents raised you. But I hated that I really couldn't grasp what the movie was about and that it jumped all over the place, leaving so many questions unanswered.


The Tree of Life is definitely interesting, and a beautiful thing to watch, but I can't say it's for everyone.

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