93.9

A triumph.

Thesis

Double the chill, double the writing. Though I'm subjecting myself to record numbers of work hours this week, I'm finding myself completely chilled out. With a belly full of Thai curry and a head full of soundtrack, I'm ready to blog.

Summer Movie Review (03)

The Tree Of Life [2011]

Written & Directed by

Terrence Malick

Long awaited and much anticipated by yours truly, Malick's latest film surpassed my expectations by totally defying them. The problem with reviewing it, and even with watching it, is that I entered the theater convinced that this would be a masterpiece. I've almost never been let down by a movie I hype up (Tron: Legacy had so much potential), because my feeble mind won't let me. But when the lights came up and the credits rolled, I had no idea what to make of the movie.

It was obviously doing something special. Never in my life have I seen a movie even attempt to do what this movie has done (don't ask what this is). But it left me conflicted. There was more in the movie than I could handle. Its first part is almost entirely comprised of half-whispered voiceovers, regrets and wishes directed at the speaker, the film, God, and the audience, as the entire span of Existence is dramatized. The second part lives - really lives - with a Waco, Texas family. The third part is a trip to heaven. Was it just too much for one film? How could such a film succeed?

I at first felt like it hadn't. It was impossibly large. It was intangible. It was meandering (sup Tarkovsky). It was intensely sentimental and humorless. It was out of control. I felt as if Malick had overstepped his mark. Granted, his ambitions were extraordinary, but his execution was scattershot, incomprehensible. He had already made sophisticated statements about the human soul in unabashed and straightforward masterpieces Days Of Heaven and Badlands. Why did this have to be so elusive?

And then I remembered the real anguish of a family's struggles. The haunted lamp post and falling down shadows. The crash and recoil of primordial waves. The rush of doing something you're not supposed to do. The mesmerizing light that bookends the film. Even the damn dinosaurs. These are the striking parts of a confused whole, fractured images that coalesce into an equally fractured narrative. This could never be the movie I was expecting. It had to be as broken and collage-like as its poster.

So, the effect achieved here is not as immediate as I had expected. But it is all the stronger for its subtlety. It unveils itself over time, slowly. The structure that binds the whole together becomes understandable. The narrative being constructed feels correct. This is not just Malick autobiographically rambling to himself. This is Malick making his voice heard loud and clear, and he hopes you hear your own voice in his. Despite all of its pretension and ambition, The Tree Of Life resonates on a genuinely real emotional level. It is a challenging work of love.

This movie makes demands of its audience - we must invest in order to take something away. Of course, almost any movie worth its running time will engage the audience and require emotional investment. But The Tree Of Life asks more (asks you to relive your life) and gives back more. This movie is about you and your own experience. Many of the film's silent or instrumental passages even feel like time allotted for self-reflection. I mean, for the love of Based God, the preface to the first draft of the script reads:

The "I" who speaks in this story is not the author. Rather, he hopes that you might see yourself in this "I" and understand this story as your own.

Malick is telling The Human Story (middle-class white Catholic family, yes), telling the story of One Life, of Your Life. It is one of loss and sadness. The conclusion arrived at - all you need is love? - doesn't feel trite; it feels complicated.

Notice how I've written all of this without really saying anything. That's how Big and Important this movie is. I didn't even talk about the performances or the score or the best cinematography ever or the plot even or how this is by far Malick's most experimental film or anything. I can only say that it is an experience like no other. That this is a daring, beautiful film.

It asks Why? and provides more answers than I know what to do with. I have to see it again.

Conclusions

Well, that was a lot. Maybe I should've reviewed X-Men: First Class. That'll be the next post! In the mean time, let's talk about feminism or friends or love or music or going to sleep. I'll just go to sleep. If it's nice out again tomorrow, I'll read outside. If not, I'll blog. See you soon, fam. I can't seem to stay away from you this summer.

CONGRATS TO MY HOMEBOY KRIT (FINNA BLOWING UP)