"The Tree of Life" (2011)

I swear to you I will never have another experince like this again. Where do i begin. I saw it 3 hours ago and i am in such shock that i dont know where my thoghts are going. everyone should see it first of. to hell with PG-13 rating. take you four year olds and up. there is nothing bad about it. it is a bit bamboozling though. some wont get it which is understandable. from the first 30 mins i did not know where it was going. i though 'does he really know what the hell is going on'?- yea he does. he knows more that what is going on. he knows what was going on an why. which is an interesting concept. its not about time periods or people or places. its about inner human emotion and or spirit. which is vague, but Malick can stretch it out to make in 2 hrs and 10 mins. obviously the first thing that comes to mind is Kubrick's masterpeice 2001: Space Odyssey which i will see tonight. The visuals for the film cannot be asaigned a name as it was in 2001. they were more than encapsulating, breathtaking, stunning, audacious, existential and pretty. you thought the abomonation called "Avatar" was visually good but youve got another thing coming. it must win an Oscar for Cinematography and i hope, Best Picture. It's not a film to be dove into because it's all there. its not like "The Sweet Hereafter" where you have to study it's every move to see what the hell is going on. It's very self exlanitory which is refeshing for someone who enjoys surrealism or metaphorical film. We see a boy who loses his innocence- right, been there done that- but wait. we are going to study the loss through existential visuals and questioning. we are going to go to the beginning, then progress foward through evolution and teachings about humanity, where we began. then we can closely watch the steps to loosing innocence. the tree itself has very little part in the film. the title is just something Malick had to give the film. in fact, the film doesnt even have opening credits. that's not important. as ive said before, the make a great film, it must have a great opening shot and closing shot. well this is an exception. the first thing we see is not a shot but, well youll have to see it. we see it several times throught the film. it is a motif as are opened gates, mountains, waterfalls, molecules etc. the last thing we see is the first thing. but before that, the last actual shot is a bridge; not what i would have used but the entire film is one incredible shot so it doesnt have that much of an affect. I applaud Malick's artistic approach to a familiar topic. It felt like the first time I read the short story 'The Scarlet Ibis" which I will make a movie of. I wil not describe it because i want everyone to read it. this feels like a film i would ave made; visually and emotionally succinct. I will never have an experince like this again.

"If I shall be any good later on, then I am some good now; for corn is corn, even if people from the city take it for grass at first."

-Vincent van Gogh