Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and newcomer Jessica Chastain search for answers to eternal mysteries in "The Tree of Life." But they leave the answers up to us in Terrence Malick's controversial new movie. When Hollywood goes bigger, louder and 3D-crazy in almost every movie it makes these days, a story about one family tragedy might seem a little dull.
Where are the robots? The alien smackdowns? All those things we've come to expect in summer movies? Malick's audacious film doesn't give a hang about Hollywood formulas or meaningless excess. But don't kid yourself.
There's a Big Bang theory at work in "The Tree of Life." The explosions occur, however, in those secret places within where each of us ponders life's imponderables. Set in 1950s Texas, director Malick follows one couple as they bring three sons into the world and watch them lose their innocence. That fall from grace is set against the birth of the universe and life on Earth.
Malick's movie isn't for everyone. It's long. It follows no traditional story line and has little dialogue. The film's intellectual ambitions are also perplexing and frustrating at times. But those moviegoers who can put aside their usual expectations for a summer movie are in for an experience.
Right from the get-go, "The Tree of Life" commands attention with its staggering imagery. We see supernovas churn and the depths of the universe explode with colours. We see infinitesimal specs from those explosions lead to the evolution of amoebas, jellyfish, amphibians and dinosaurs on Earth.
Those life forms give way to human fetuses waiting to be born, children playing on idyllic tree-lined streets, and families going to church in their Sunday best. Malick even conveys glimpses of a spiritual realm from which all humanity exits and enters.
All these contrasts produce some of the most mind-blowing visuals since Stanley Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey."Big questions, big visuals root ‘The Tree of Life'
The film's questions begin after Mrs. O'Brien, the mother figure in this tale, hears a knock at the door one day. The intrusion brings bad news: one of her three sons has been killed.
No details are given about the 19-year-old's end. But emotions of all sorts wash over the grieving mother's face. Memories of her babies flash through her mind. She relives all their years together in the blink of an eye. Unanswerable thoughts also dart across Mrs. O'Brien's mind.
Are you there God? What are we to you? What do you gain by taking him? Newcomer Chastain whispers every query over the screen. Malick also uses Chastain's milky, freckled face like a mirror. We look at it and know exactly how we would feel if we were in Mrs. O'Brien's shoes.
Her husband and eldest son also wrestle with thoughts when news of this tragic death comes. On the outside, Pitt's Mr. O'Brien and the 40-something architect played by Penn go about their business. They go to work. They walk among people and do what needs to be done. But on the inside they ask away.
We all know the feeling. Pitt gives one of the best performances of his career as the film's tough, well-meaning father. Dressed in horn-rimmed glasses, short-sleeved shirts and a 50s' brush cut, Pitt morphs into a stocky disciplinarian whose jaw juts in anger each time he is disobeyed.
Pitt puts depth and power into Mr. O'Brien's starchy 50s' morality. But Pitt also makes us empathize with this unlikeable figure. This aspiring musician has spent his life trying to live the American dream. Somewhere along the way Mr. O'Brien lost his dream and himself.
Like so many others before and after him, Mr. O'Brien doesn't really know how this happened. But that feeling of loss and regret trumps all the stunning imagery that Malick packs into this top prize winner at 2011's Cannes Film Festival.
That powerful feeling also produces the real lesson that Mr. O'Brien and director Malick try to impart in "The Tree of Life."As O'Brien tells his boys, live your life. Don't give up. That's "The Tree of Life's" best thought of all.