Terrence Malick - To The Wonder

[Guest boo]

those pictures don't really show how beautiful jessica chastain is

do you mean the pics of other women? haha

[YELLOW]

"The story centers on a man, played by Ben Affleck...

 

 

Hahaha this is perfect

[Hoodie]

is tree of life worth a viewing or is it as shitty as you all are making it out to be?

[Eggs]

its fuckin shitty

[Guest Mirezzi]

its fuckin shitty

[Alcofribas]

is tree of life worth a viewing or is it as shitty as you all are making it out to be?

 

It's probably one of the best mainstream art films to come out in a long time. Flawed, but a really unique movie with plenty to offer visually (beautiful domestic scenes paired with epic space shots) and definitely provides a lot to think about.

 

I've been quite fascinated by the negative reviews, many of them veer into the bizarre imo. On teh forum atop was pissed about how Malick filmed the sun (I've honestly never heard any one talk about how the sun was filmed in any other movie). In the mainstream press the Guardian and the New York Review of Books claimed the film was too reminiscent of an advertisement because it used beautiful images and "classical music." in a review in the London Review of Books (iirc) Michael Wood, who has books published by Oxford and Princeton, wrote an almost incoherent piece about it, referring to the dinosaurs as giant scaley ostriches. WAT?

 

Idk, sometimes I'm inclined to think when a film is followed by so many bizarre reviews it must be doing something right.

 

Basically, it's a film about kids growing up in Texas in the mid 20th century. The themes are typical but Malick seems to want to open up "heavier" themes from within this story. It weaves together kids playing in a back yard with the origin of life and the creation of the universe. There's a bit of suggestive Christian language which seems to hint at a way of deriving meaning from the story but for me was not especially gripping.

 

I thought it was pretty damn cool.

[lumpenprol]

nice review. I liked the growing up part best, and could even barely stomach the dinosaur bit, but did not like the finale with sean penn.

[Alcofribas]

I'm with you on that. But while I did not like those parts I was nevertheless impressed with Malick's courage to be...naive maybe.

 

I feel like one reason people get all upset about this movie (adults booing in a movie theater, reviewers run amok, etc) us because he does things that are just not...idk, cool or something. His movies are kind of anachronistic almost, like they belong more to a way of thinking that doesn't fit so well with the zeitgeist. I really admire that, even if I don't always follow his way of thinking.

[Redruth]

His movies are kind of anachronistic almost, like they belong more to a way of thinking that doesn't fit so well with the zeitgeist. I really admire that, even if I don't always follow his way of thinking.

 

this is exactly it. terrence malick is willing to say things people don't want to hear but he does it in such a visually striking, abstract, artful way that even those who don't want to hear, will subject themselves. they want to watch and of course, then they are forced to hear, regardless

 

badlands, the thin red line, the new world, the tree of life. terrence malick is without equal, he is peerless

[lumpenprol]

thin red line is fantastic, I'll give you that, despite its flaws (mainly the at-times-overdone internal monologues)

 

I really want to see The New World.

[chenGOD]

Don't forget Days of Heaven. Such beauty is rarely seen on screen.

[Redruth]

oh' i did not include days of heaven? shame. surly one of his best. right now we are working on a book, that will eventually be adapted into screenplay and presented to terrence malick. however, it is all very hush hush at the moment

[Alcofribas]

The Troon of Life

[Guest Mirezzi]

I have a hard time bashing Malick, because of how much I appreciate and love him despite his latest tendencies.

 

Until Tree of Life, I was an unabashed fanboy. Something about it really fucking bothered me and if I had to put my finger on it, I'd say that it struck me as a very silly 1st Word Problems sort of film, where absolutely nothing was at stake for me as a viewer. Maybe it was a decent experimental high resolution critique of capitalism? I dunno. It was ambitious but facepalmingly absurd at times. The voiceover madness really requires significant effort for me not to roll my eyes. Thin Red Line worked because I found its characters so sympathetic. Of course, it helps that contextually we're talking about a brutal battle within WWII. The New World worked for me because there was a central narrative and as a subversion of Disney's Pocahontas, it doesn't get more radical than Malick.

 

I wanted to like Tree of Life and I feel like Malick never gave me a chance. It was, more or less, Malick's magnum opus scrap book come to life. Have you ever watched a music video that you really enjoyed but you hated the music? That's how I feel about Malick's raspy voiceovers. I feel cheated of my own reading of his films. It's just too goddamn pedantic sometimes.

 

Not sure where all the Chastain hate is coming from to be honest. I think she's perfectly adequate for the film. I thought she was great in Take Shelter, but I'm one of the few WATMMers who think that film's greatness was mostly unappreciated or unnoticed.

[cear]

i only thought the imdb audience were the only ones that didn't like it because it didn't have blue lens flares, bitches and exploding metal things.

the movie was smooth, touching memories. i dunno i only saw it once, but i remember finding it pretty beautiful start to finish.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Oh, I see, so if somebody doesn't like Tree of Life, it's because they prefer JJ Abrams and Michael Bay movies?

[cear]

Oh, I see, so if somebody doesn't like Tree of Life, it's because they prefer JJ Abrams and Michael Bay movies?

 

i guess...

[TRiP]

and 'TTOL' is almost as extremely self-indulgent as Lynch's 'Inland Empire',

 

I thought Inland Empire was close to Lynch's best work!

 

also - you boys shouldn't be complaining about Malick's work - hes one of the only experimental directors out there getting mainstream releases - a fresh change to the multiplexes array of choices - doesn't matter if its good or not, the variation is important