The Tree of Life

Love it - in its essence, it’s a coming-of-age story put into relation of the history of the earth and our solar system. If that doesn’t blow your mind, then what? Great performances by everybody, you just have to let go and inhale what’s happening!

Seriously, this is a great movie, even though hard to get. Terrence Malick‘s masterpiece. In its core, we follow a family in the 1950‘s, but he doesn’t shy away of a billion years forth and back to span the history of earth and the universe. It reflects the tinyness of our being in the overall universe, with various scenes being reminiscent of “2001.” Within this overall scope, it contrasts the hope of achieving something significant with the disappointment of reality, then moving into the realm of spirituality to grasp whatever happens to our lives. Impressive performances of Jack, R. L. and Steve as the kids, and Brad Pitt as the father, Sean Penn somewhat dull as the adult Jack. You’ll have to be in the right melancholic mood to watch it, but you’ll enjoy this movie.

What a bunch of nonsense.

spiritual, my way or god's way theme extremely thought-provoking

a masterpiece. malick is up there with the greats like dreyer and tarkovsky. as for the reviewers who trashed it because it didn't make sense or there wasn't enough nudity (!), what can you say - that's what years of mindless tv junk does to your head.

Quite possibly the most self indulgent train-wreck of a film I've ever seen. First film I walked out on since 'Armageddon' (but for entirely different reasons). Watching this was akin to being battered about the face by the flaccid, shriveled member of the director (Malik). I invested two hours into this time sink before dashing for the exit. The religious mumbo-jumbo didn't do a thing for me either. Pseudo-intellectual garbage.

Unquestionably the worst movie in the last few years. Photography was great, but you get the same shots (only even better) when watching national geographic or pics from the Hubble space telescope, and in those situations the shots actually make sense with the context of the film. Shame on you Pitt and Penn for signing on to this one. For anyone else it would have been career suicide.

Having just rented the DVD I have to say that the photography was great. The only thing is I did'nt want to view a movie, but get told a story. The director made art in the shooting of the picture, but I think he miss it in the story. Could have been much better with not trying to WOW, but allow us more time to see the acting and not tell the story for our selves.

Poor acting. Pathetic plot.

Fantastic! The sequence beginning near the twenty minute point of the movie is stunning. The immensity of time drawn by the visual effects of our galaxy and creation of the earth advancing toward the relative moment of our entire existence emphasizes the fleeting good fortune we exist at all and how minor a roll our sorrows and questions play. Blended with Zbigniew Preisner’s “Lacrimosa” at the beginning of the sequence, it was a fantastic presentation. I’ve watched the film three times now.

A little confusing at times but accurately depicts the life of a family in the 1950's. Brought a lot of childhood memories back.

terrible

Great movie. NOt for the average Joe. Not for raunchy comedy ot horror lovers. This is a movie for all the things one experience in adolescense, childhood, relationships with parents, siblings;love, adoration, not being understood and EVERYTHING what life is about. Brad Pitt gives an Oscar worthy performance. You have never seen him emerged in a role so much that you forget it is him. Jessica Chastain - true discovery- very talented young promising actress; we will see great things from her. And the kids...a mature and outstanding performance. A great master piece of a genius director which could be seen once every 10-20 years. The beautiful scenes are a piece of its own and beautiful to wat

After reading Movie Mill newspaper recommendation I took a friend. The photgraphy is amazing but too long...it was starting to feel like a National Geographic production. Don't care for back and forth in time sequences at all. The children were amazing actors. Dialoque difficult to hear at times. The ending was confusing and overdone leaving the viewer to figure out what really happened.It was so cold in the theatre that it was extremely uncomfortable. Both my firend and I had sore tailbones from the new seats. ANd the large head of the person inf ront of me sure didn't help!!!Have found this theatre very cold due to AC before. BRRRRRRRR!! Some walked out of the theatre at the beginning....

the people that left the movie, missed out. this makes you think, not just be entertained.well done.

it left me thinking well after i left the theater.

dreadful movie, never seen so many people leave. Thank goodness I went on Toonie Tues. Save your time and money.

Is the wort movie I have EVER watch! DO NOT!

Beautiful

Terrence Mallick's gorgeous,poetic,epic saga of family life in the 50's also provides meditations on the origins of life,the universe and everything.

It was difficult to watch, with all the people standing up and walking out! I thought they were lining up for free popcorn. Wish the trailer had some of the imager so we could have been more prepared. Couldn`t follow most of the dialogue anyway but when my wife started snoring, it was impossible.

This movie is truly complex. Excellent performances from the main characters however the back and forth plot seem to be a challenge at the best of times. Lovely scenery but just not a movie I would consider owning. I never saw a theatre empty so fast. LOVE ALWAYS JOANNIE :):):)

I can tell I am going to love this movie from the reviews. When people trash a movie because there is no nudity and too much about faith and finding the meaning of life, I want to see it. I am going to believe the reviewers who said it was brilliant but requires an intelligent and insightful audience. I hated Bad Teacher so I think I will like this.

an intelligent movie for intelligent movie goers!

And people thought Gigli in 2003 was bad. I work in a movie theatre and adults and majority of seniors didnt like this movie and wanted to switch their movie to something else and the movie of choice was Midnight in Paris. After they saw that they found it much better than Tree of Life.

I can`t believe there wasn`t any nudity in this

Possibly the best film of the year so far. People that don't like this are the ones who can't see someone elses vision for what it is, and who have not very many brain cells moving in their head. To experience this film is something quite moving and unforgettable.

Worst movie we have seen in years. Shocked that Brad Pitt and Sean Penn would be a part of such a poor production! It was so bad we left! Impossible to hear the few words that were spoken and could not follow or find the plot line. Too many gaps in the movie.

A powerful movie that touches on matters that are important to everyone - birth, death, family, love, and reflects the incredible complexity of our inner and outer universe. Outstanding cinematography.

Fantastic movie with beautiful interludes and pensive moments...and truly special for those who love God and think of Him often.

Visual.

One of the worst movies ever. Stunning visuals, but if you get rid of them and use the "acting" scenes, this movie could be 10 mintes long

I had such high expectations for this movie. I'm so sorry to report that I cannot recommend this to anyone. Better to rent Plant Earth and figure out the meaning of your life. It is so rare that I don't rave. I'm going to have to take a major pass on this one and now my husband will not let me choose a movie for the next 3 months!

This movie is unlike any I've seen before.I will see it again.

thanks everyone for saving me the cost of admission to what would surely be a time waster for me.........zero out of zero it is...........

Good acting but WEIRD. Didn't really get the purpose of the movie.

the best sleep i've had in years

Theme overrides the plot. Self indulgent photo, poetic, music montage. I was surprised by how much I hated it, since I have never seen a film at the Princess I didn't like.

This is possibly the most beautful film that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing.

What on earth was that? This is for me the worst movie I have ever seen. I nodded off several times during this long drawn out yawner. Unbelievably boring and unbelievable, period. Brad Pitt's character came across as an unrealistic collage of several incompatible father figure stereotypes. Whatever existential questions his son Jack was supposedly wondering about never became clear. Beautiful cinematography (hence the 1 star rating), but that alone is far from enough to make this worthy of a recommendation. Where can I get my money back? (The 2+ hrs I spent in the theatre are gone forever...)