Stars: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan | Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
Present day, and a late-middle-aged Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) is stalking his plush modernist house in a state of numbness. He is materially successful, but he’s still grieving for his brother, who died aged 19. We never see what happens to the brother, but our route into Jack’s childhood is a scene where his parents (Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt) receive the tragic news. Like so much in Terrence Malick’s modern masterpiece, there are no words, just emotions etched on faces and written in the eyes.
Malick takes a brief diversion to the dawn of the universe, before charting evolution through to the arrival of mammals. The Big Bang and the birth of microbes is depicted using the same astonishing Petri dish visual effects that Douglas Trumball used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Present day, and a late-middle-aged Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) is stalking his plush modernist house in a state of numbness. He is materially successful, but he’s still grieving for his brother, who died aged 19. We never see what happens to the brother, but our route into Jack’s childhood is a scene where his parents (Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt) receive the tragic news. Like so much in Terrence Malick’s modern masterpiece, there are no words, just emotions etched on faces and written in the eyes.
Malick takes a brief diversion to the dawn of the universe, before charting evolution through to the arrival of mammals. The Big Bang and the birth of microbes is depicted using the same astonishing Petri dish visual effects that Douglas Trumball used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- 11/20/2018
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
“Tell us a story from before we can remember.”
How can you improve upon one of the greatest films of all-time? Terrence Malick’s “Extended Version” of The Tree of Life–188 minutes long and now available on The Criterion Collection–is less a radical reinvention and more a gratifying expansion, giving a deeper imprint to various threads of the original, ultimately sculpting a more affecting, fleshed-out picture of a story that remains boundlessly evocative in its ambition.
At first blush, one will notice the differences in Sean Penn’s introduction. Adding more torment to his life–including hints of extra-marital affairs and metaphoric visuals for outrunning his demons–gives additional credence for why he’d be reflecting back on the fractured memory that is his childhood, if you happen to agree with that interpretation of the film. In this section, Malick also introduces a brief but no less rousing mix...
How can you improve upon one of the greatest films of all-time? Terrence Malick’s “Extended Version” of The Tree of Life–188 minutes long and now available on The Criterion Collection–is less a radical reinvention and more a gratifying expansion, giving a deeper imprint to various threads of the original, ultimately sculpting a more affecting, fleshed-out picture of a story that remains boundlessly evocative in its ambition.
At first blush, one will notice the differences in Sean Penn’s introduction. Adding more torment to his life–including hints of extra-marital affairs and metaphoric visuals for outrunning his demons–gives additional credence for why he’d be reflecting back on the fractured memory that is his childhood, if you happen to agree with that interpretation of the film. In this section, Malick also introduces a brief but no less rousing mix...
- 9/16/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Terrence Malick’s magnum opus fully expresses what might be called his ‘Unified Theory’ of cinema — which embraces the human experience from the core of family life to the creation and destruction of the universe. Even Stanley Kubrick didn’t go that far: he never filmed merciful dinosaurs or anything as simple as a mother who experiences rapture rolling in the grass with her young sons.
The Tree of Life
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 942
2011 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 139, 179 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 49.95
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan.
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Film Editors: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa
Original Music: Alexandre Desplat
Production Design by Jack Fisk
Produced by DeDe Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad
Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
I’ve wanted to review The Tree of Life ever since it came out.
The Tree of Life
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 942
2011 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 139, 179 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 49.95
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan.
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Film Editors: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa
Original Music: Alexandre Desplat
Production Design by Jack Fisk
Produced by DeDe Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad
Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
I’ve wanted to review The Tree of Life ever since it came out.
- 9/8/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Grace Vs. Nature”
By Raymond Benson
Not many filmmakers since the great Stanley Kubrick have had the same kind of mystique, but one who easily fits that bill is Terrence Malick, a writer/director who has endeavored to redefine the narrative form of cinema in visually poetic terms.
Malick doesn’t create movies, he makes cinema in verse. The story in a Malick film is not a priority, although there is often a profound tale at work. A Malick picture is all about the emotions, the visual beauty, the aural splendidness, and taking part in a cerebral, yet primally impressionistic experience.
The reclusive filmmaker disappeared from the public eye after his two acclaimed, more “accessible” works. He returned twenty years later and made The Thin Red Line (1998). Something was immediately different about his art. Malick’s storytelling was more oblique, nonlinear, and lyrical. This trend continued more intensely in The New World...
By Raymond Benson
Not many filmmakers since the great Stanley Kubrick have had the same kind of mystique, but one who easily fits that bill is Terrence Malick, a writer/director who has endeavored to redefine the narrative form of cinema in visually poetic terms.
Malick doesn’t create movies, he makes cinema in verse. The story in a Malick film is not a priority, although there is often a profound tale at work. A Malick picture is all about the emotions, the visual beauty, the aural splendidness, and taking part in a cerebral, yet primally impressionistic experience.
The reclusive filmmaker disappeared from the public eye after his two acclaimed, more “accessible” works. He returned twenty years later and made The Thin Red Line (1998). Something was immediately different about his art. Malick’s storytelling was more oblique, nonlinear, and lyrical. This trend continued more intensely in The New World...
- 9/6/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Laramie Eppler, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life Terrence Malick's Cannes winner The Tree of Life, a "cosmic" family drama starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn, topped the Online Film Critics Society's list of 2011 winners. The Tree of Life won five of its seven nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Chastain), Best Editing (Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa), and Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki). No other film won more than one award. [Full list of Online Film Critics winners and nominees.] Malick lost the Best Original Screenplay Award to Woody Allen for the fantasy Midnight in Paris, the filmmaker's most popular movie in years. Midnight in Paris features Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard. The Tree of Life's other loser, Brad Pitt, had been shortlisted in the Best Supporting Actor category. Christopher Plummer won for his performance as Ewan McGregor's gay father in Mike Mills' Beginners.
- 1/3/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Like just about every Us-based critics group — year in, year out — the Online Film Critics Society has placed its focus on English-language productions this awards season. True, critics' fave The Artist, a French-made production, is in the running in several categories, including Best Film, but Michel Hazanavicius' comedy-drama is a) silent (which makes it seem less "foreign") b) set in Hollywood c) features several American/British actors in supporting roles. In any case, Terrence Malick's family drama The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain, topped the Online Critics list of nominees, with a total of seven nods. Those include Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (Malick), and supporting nominations for Pitt and Chastain (photo, with Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan). [Full list of Online Film Critics Awards nominations.] Nicolas Winding Refn's thriller Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Albert Brooks, was next with six nods. The film itself,...
- 12/30/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Brad Pitt, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan, The Tree of Life
Best Picture: The Tree of Life
Top Ten Movies: Drive, Pariah, Rampart, Shame, Moneyball, The Descendants, A Better Life, My Week with Marilyn, The Help
Best Foreign Film: Alrick Brown, Kinyarwanda
Best Director: Steve McQueen, Shame
Best Actor: Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Breakout Performance: Adepero Oduye, Pariah
Best Documentary: The Black Power Mixtape
Best Screenplay: Ava DuVernay, I Will Follow
Best Song: Jason Reeves & Lenka Kripac, “The Show” from Moneyball
Best Independent Film: Pariah
Cinema Vanguard Award: George Lucas
Aafca Legacy Award: Richard Roundtree
Aafca Horizon: Hattie Winston
Institution Award: Sony Pictures Entertainment
The Tree of Life picture: Merie Wallace / 20th Century Fox...
Best Picture: The Tree of Life
Top Ten Movies: Drive, Pariah, Rampart, Shame, Moneyball, The Descendants, A Better Life, My Week with Marilyn, The Help
Best Foreign Film: Alrick Brown, Kinyarwanda
Best Director: Steve McQueen, Shame
Best Actor: Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Breakout Performance: Adepero Oduye, Pariah
Best Documentary: The Black Power Mixtape
Best Screenplay: Ava DuVernay, I Will Follow
Best Song: Jason Reeves & Lenka Kripac, “The Show” from Moneyball
Best Independent Film: Pariah
Cinema Vanguard Award: George Lucas
Aafca Legacy Award: Richard Roundtree
Aafca Horizon: Hattie Winston
Institution Award: Sony Pictures Entertainment
The Tree of Life picture: Merie Wallace / 20th Century Fox...
- 12/13/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Terrence Malick is a director who weaves a visual tapestry and that is certainly true of his latest effort. Although this effort is certainly to have people taking sides as the images may be beautiful but the narrative is not for everyone. The Tree of Life begins at the beginning of time, but pauses to contemplate the childhood of Jack O.Brien (Hunter McCracken) in Waco, Texas. Jack lives with his dad (Brad Pitt), mother (Jessica Chastain), and brothers R.L. (Laramie Eppler) and Steve (Tye Sheridan). Jack.s mother is a free spirit and nurturing where his father is strict and authoritative. We even continue our trek to Jack.s (Sean Penn) future and maybe even his afterlife. I guess I.m a bit...
- 11/2/2011
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
While most blogs/sites post their “best of the year so far” lists in June, I like to wait until August – with good reason. You see, we here at Sound On Sight cover various film festivals across the globe. Five of the biggest fests (Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, Tribeca and Fantasia) all take place before August, while five other major fests (The New York Film Fest, Fantastic Fest, Tiff, Festival Du Nouveau Cinema, BFI London) all begin sometime in September or later. And since their are so few good films theatrically released in the first three or four months of the year, I feel like August is the best time to post this list. It gives us one more opportunity to further promote these great movies, before they are drowned out by all the major players heading our way. Before you read my list, there are a few things you should know.
- 8/22/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The Tree Of Life (12A)
(Terrence Malick, 2011, Us) Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan. 139 mins
Successor to Kubrick's 2001 or extended perfume ad? Either way, Malick's macro/microcosmic take on life, the universe and family life makes most films look unadventurous. Beyond the head-trip "creation of the universe" sequences, it's largely Sean Penn's impressionistic reminiscence of his conflicted childhood, rendered in gorgeous imagery, with introspective voiceovers and a dreamy intensity.
The Princess Of Montpensier (15)
(Bertrand Tavernier, 2010, Fra) Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson. 140 mins
There's costumes and courtliness, but this 16th-century saga remains unstuffy. Sought-after Thierry's quest for self-determination is the focus, and the treatment is modern and immediate.
Trust (15)
(David Schwimmer, 2010, Us) Liana Liberato, Clive Owen, Catherine Keener. 106 mins
Those who saw Catfish will know where this teen's online relationship with an apparently nice boy is headed. But what follows is an exercise in parent-worrying technophobia.
(Terrence Malick, 2011, Us) Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan. 139 mins
Successor to Kubrick's 2001 or extended perfume ad? Either way, Malick's macro/microcosmic take on life, the universe and family life makes most films look unadventurous. Beyond the head-trip "creation of the universe" sequences, it's largely Sean Penn's impressionistic reminiscence of his conflicted childhood, rendered in gorgeous imagery, with introspective voiceovers and a dreamy intensity.
The Princess Of Montpensier (15)
(Bertrand Tavernier, 2010, Fra) Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson. 140 mins
There's costumes and courtliness, but this 16th-century saga remains unstuffy. Sought-after Thierry's quest for self-determination is the focus, and the treatment is modern and immediate.
Trust (15)
(David Schwimmer, 2010, Us) Liana Liberato, Clive Owen, Catherine Keener. 106 mins
Those who saw Catfish will know where this teen's online relationship with an apparently nice boy is headed. But what follows is an exercise in parent-worrying technophobia.
- 7/8/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Laramie Eppler, Brad Pitt, Tye Sheridan in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life James McAvoy-Michael Fassbender's X-men: First Class Down, But Steadier Than Wolverine: Box Office Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer opened poorly with only $6.26m, landing at no. 7 at the North American box office this weekend (June 10-12) according to estimates found at Box Office Mojo. Screening at 2,524 theaters, Judy Moody averaged a meager $2,483 per site. Reportedly budgeted at $20m, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer was directed by John Schultz, and stars Jordana Beatty and Heather Graham. This adaptation of a popular book series was distributed [...]...
- 6/12/2011
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
While a great deal of attention has been paid to the asteroids, opera, dinosaurs, and lava-spewing volcanoes that pepper long stretches of Terrence Malick's epic "Tree of Life," it's the deeply felt, hyper-realistic portrait of boyhood that anchors the film, as well as the performances of three young Texans. Tye Sheridan, Laramie Eppler, and Hunter McCracken effortlessly portray the sons to Brad Pitt's strict father and Jessica Chastain's angelic mother.
To mold his family in true authenticity, Malick and the production team spent over a year scouring schools across Texas, seeing over 10,000 students, looking for three young, non-actors to take on the roles. In the end, close to 95 percent of the entire cast for "Tree" was made up of people who hadn't acted before.
Though McCracken was unavailable for interviews, Sheridan and Eppler both spoke (very politely, in thick southern accents) to HuffPost about their unique experience working with the elusive auteur,...
To mold his family in true authenticity, Malick and the production team spent over a year scouring schools across Texas, seeing over 10,000 students, looking for three young, non-actors to take on the roles. In the end, close to 95 percent of the entire cast for "Tree" was made up of people who hadn't acted before.
Though McCracken was unavailable for interviews, Sheridan and Eppler both spoke (very politely, in thick southern accents) to HuffPost about their unique experience working with the elusive auteur,...
- 6/11/2011
- by Lucas Kavner
- Huffington Post
Ages: 13 (Laramie Eppler) and 14 (Tye Sheridan) Hometowns: Iowa Park, Texas (Eppler) and Elkhart, Texas (Sheridan) Why They're On Our Radar: As the younger two in a trio of brothers central to Terrence Malick's much-discussed "The Tree of Life," Laramie Eppler (R.L.) and Tye Sheridan (Steve), were chosen from over ten thousand children in Texas to star alongside the likes of Brad PItt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. At ...
- 6/10/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Ages: 13 (Laramie Eppler) and 14 (Tye Sheridan) Hometowns: Iowa Park, Texas (Eppler) and Elkhart, Texas (Sheridan) Why They're On Our Radar: As the younger two in a trio of brothers central to Terrence Malick's much-discussed "The Tree of Life," Laramie Eppler (R.L.) and Tye Sheridan (Steve) were chosen from over ten thousand children in Texas to star alongside the likes of Brad PItt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. At ...
- 6/10/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Ages: 13 (Laramie Eppler) and 14 (Tye Sheridan) Hometowns: Iowa Park, Texas (Eppler) and Elkhart, Texas (Sheridan) Why They're On Our Radar: As the younger two in a trio of brothers central to Terrence Malick's much-discussed "The Tree of Life," Laramie Eppler (R.L.) and Tye Sheridan (Steve), were chosen from over ten thousand children in Texas to star alongside the likes of Brad PItt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. At ...
- 6/10/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Ages: 13 (Laramie Eppler) and 14 (Tye Sheridan) Hometowns: Iowa Park, Texas (Eppler) and Elkhart, Texas (Sheridan) Why They're On Our Radar: As the younger two in a trio of brothers central to Terrence Malick's much-discussed "The Tree of Life," Laramie Eppler (R.L.) and Tye Sheridan (Steve), were chosen from over ten thousand children in Texas to star alongside the likes of Brad PItt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. At ...
- 6/10/2011
- Indiewire
Jessica Chastain, Laramie Eppler, Brad Pitt, Tye Sheridan in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life Todd Phillips' The Hangover 2 Plummets: Box Office Following Michael Fassbender-James McAvoy-Jennifer Lawrence's X-Men: First Class and Bradley Cooper-Zach Galifianakis-Ed Helms' The Hangover Part II, Kung Fu Panda 2 took in $6.25m at the North American box office on Friday, June 3, according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. The China-set animated actioner features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and Gary Oldman. Starring Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Sam [...]...
- 6/4/2011
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Director: Terrence Malick Writer: Terrence Malick Starring: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan I am still attempting to digest The Tree of Life a week after seeing the press screening, making some sense of it all and figuring out exactly what writer-director Terrence Malick is trying to communicate (or maybe I am just having a difficult time getting beyond the CGI dinosaurs). When it comes down to it, The Tree of Life‘s cup runneth over with metaphoric imagery and references to Judeo-Christian scriptures (primarily the Book of Job) and I am desperately trying to wrap my head around it all. There are essentially three distinct yet intertwined segments of The Tree of Life that play like movements in a symphony: The O’Brien family in the 1950s; Jack O’Brien, the eldest son, 30 years later; and what I loosely refer to as “dawn of time” imagery.
- 6/3/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Chicago – “Where is it that we were together? Who were you that I lived with? The brother. The friend. Darkness, light. Strife and love. Are they the workings of one mind? The features of the same face? Oh, my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look at all the things you made. All things shining.”
These hardly appear to be the sort of words one would expect to end a war film. And yet, in the haunting final moments of Terrence Malick’s intimate WWII epic, “The Thin Red Line,” Pvt. Train (John Dee Smith) delivers these lines as if they were erupting out of his very soul. It’s the sort of poetic prose that only a bona-fide artist such as Malick could pull off without seeming pretentious. His entire oeuvre is poetry of the highest caliber, from the ever-exploring lens of his...
These hardly appear to be the sort of words one would expect to end a war film. And yet, in the haunting final moments of Terrence Malick’s intimate WWII epic, “The Thin Red Line,” Pvt. Train (John Dee Smith) delivers these lines as if they were erupting out of his very soul. It’s the sort of poetic prose that only a bona-fide artist such as Malick could pull off without seeming pretentious. His entire oeuvre is poetry of the highest caliber, from the ever-exploring lens of his...
- 6/3/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It's not wholly inaccurate to think of filmmaking as existing on a continuum: on one end, a direct, straightforward assemblage of images designed to serve as a simple delivery device for plot; on the other, a purely impressionistic blast of sound and vision that wants nothing more than to convey an emotional state of being. Most movies fall closer to the first terminus, telling linear narratives that, though dressed up with standard visual clues (the use of light and dark to convey emotion, the use of quick cuts to create a sense of energy or excitement, etc.), are still ultimately about watching a protagonist try to achieve a central goal before the end credits. Yet one of the wonderful things about Terrence Malick -- and one of the things that makes The Tree of Life such a masterful, glorious film -- is his ability to move closer to the middle of that continuum,...
- 5/31/2011
- by Daniel Carlson
On my way into The Tree Of Life I bumped into a friend of mine from New York and I asked him if he agreed that we were about to watch a marmite film? He looked at me perplexed, of course he had no more idea of what marmite was than he did a marmite film; I quickly enlightened him and in we went. As we left, he smiled at me and exclaimed that he intended to describe The Tree of Life as the ultimate marmite film all over La (where he now lives). In summation, I am well aware that as many people will hate this film as will love it; I am very much in the latter camp. Simply put, it is magnificent!
The plot, in essence, can be boiled down extremely simply; in a modern day setting we meet the suited executive Sean Penn (who has little...
The plot, in essence, can be boiled down extremely simply; in a modern day setting we meet the suited executive Sean Penn (who has little...
- 5/25/2011
- by Guest
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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