Oscar readiness continues. I just put myself through watching The Tree of Life. I loathe Terence Malick’s work. He’s put me through a lot and now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has allowed him to put me through even more.
This film is largely about a man’s reminiscences of his childhood and the different pulls his mother and father had on him. It could have been a compelling story, but instead of actually telling the story, Malick just shows us 2 hours and 20 minutes of disjointed scenes, each lasting a few seconds. I felt like I was watching somebody’s old family movies. Have you ever watched a stranger’s family movies for 2 hours and 20 minutes? No. Of course not. Because you’d have gotten up and left.
It was a classic Terence Malick film: visually stunning, but packed with heavy-handed symbolism (which I assume Malick thinks is deep), and also butt-numbingly dull. I constantly checked the timer on the DVD player, willing it to count down faster.
I like to call this movie “The Emperor’s New Clothes” as I think that story accurately describes the reason why The Tree of Life was nominated for Best Picture. Terence Malick has this aura of genius around him, presumably because he makes films sparingly and lives as privately as JD Salinger. I think people are afraid they’ll look silly if they say they think Malick is a hack, so instead they panic and nominate him for awards.
For my part, the credits are rolling and I feel like I’ve just been released from being kidnapped.
2 comments:
Christine and I saw this in the theatre. When it was over we both said that we couldn't recommend it to anybody, but it was visually stunning. A waste of money...maybe, but at least I got to spend time with my dear friend.
I just keep thinking that the other nominees must be saying, "What the crap? We went to the trouble of actually having a narrative and creating a script with logical flow. No one told us we needn't have bothered!" Blergh.
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