The Tree of Life

I really liked the thin red line, I didn't care for his take on Pocahontas at all. Nicely shot though, I'll give it that.

some of the shots in this trailer remind me of Badlands a lot. and that's a good thing.

  On 12/16/2010 at 5:44 AM, lumpenprol said:

I'm not talking ironic, detached absurdity, more the Herzog thing of

At the heart of it all, Herzog is a teutonic fatalist. I do not see that in any Mallick movies. His view of nature is not the same, going more towards the causality of events (determinism).

Uuuuuh, Alexandre Desplat.

  On 12/16/2010 at 1:33 PM, kokoon said:

some of the shots in this trailer remind me of Badlands a lot. and that's a good thing.

gthat's an excellent thing :)

  On 12/16/2010 at 12:23 PM, Gocab said:

, I didn't care for his take on Pocahontas at all.

Did you prefer James Cameron's take?

lol. I never finished that film. Started watching it in 2D and I imagine the only thing it had going for it in the first place was the 3D technology. Pile of wank.

But yeah, I only know this story through the medium of shitty movies, of which Mallicks is the best one by far.

Wow.

Cannot fucking wait for this. I madly gay Malick's work, and this looks absolutely beautiful.

  On 12/16/2010 at 5:44 AM, lumpenprol said:

I'm also not a huge Malick fan, but that trailer gave me tingles. I like Malick I just wish he had more of a sense of the absurd. He seems to have a sense of absurd futility (woody harrelson blowing off his ass in the Thin Red Line) but that doesn't extend to all aspects of his films, and I think that weakens him a bit. I'm not talking ironic, detached absurdity, more the Herzog thing of actually having love in your heart for the misfit and the bizarre and the outsider, as a complement to the love for the beauty and poetry of life. One thing that bugs me about Malick is he always shoots these bedroom scene flashbacks with a glimpse of shoulder, a curtain blowing in the breeze...get real, most guys remember a face, a tit, a piece of ass. That said he captures things that stick in your head forever. There's a scene at the start of the Thin Red Line where they guy is hanging out with the island people, and there's a great shot of a pretty young native in dusk-light...I think Malick shoots light, particularly dusk-light, better than anyone...though maybe that's his DP

his movies are always aesthetically near perfect, but i'm bothered by exactly what you're talking about. there's a philosophical high mindedness that actually becomes absurd, over the course of the movie. having a little kid have this weird voice over that sounds like a fifty year old man recounting his childhood, the shots of people running on beaches, windows, etc. it's all kind of ridiculous, to me, and doesn't seem real. it's like the film equivalent of bad literary fiction. it's beautiful and poetic, but where are the tits?

also his take on pocahontas was so romanticized it might as well have been avatar.

i do like the thin red line, though, despite the sometimes terrible voice overs.

  On 12/16/2010 at 4:37 PM, remy marathe said:

  On 12/16/2010 at 5:44 AM, lumpenprol said:

I'm also not a huge Malick fan, but that trailer gave me tingles. I like Malick I just wish he had more of a sense of the absurd. He seems to have a sense of absurd futility (woody harrelson blowing off his ass in the Thin Red Line) but that doesn't extend to all aspects of his films, and I think that weakens him a bit. I'm not talking ironic, detached absurdity, more the Herzog thing of actually having love in your heart for the misfit and the bizarre and the outsider, as a complement to the love for the beauty and poetry of life. One thing that bugs me about Malick is he always shoots these bedroom scene flashbacks with a glimpse of shoulder, a curtain blowing in the breeze...get real, most guys remember a face, a tit, a piece of ass. That said he captures things that stick in your head forever. There's a scene at the start of the Thin Red Line where they guy is hanging out with the island people, and there's a great shot of a pretty young native in dusk-light...I think Malick shoots light, particularly dusk-light, better than anyone...though maybe that's his DP

 

his movies are always aesthetically near perfect, but i'm bothered by exactly what you're talking about. there's a philosophical high mindedness that actually becomes absurd, over the course of the movie. having a little kid have this weird voice over that sounds like a fifty year old man recounting his childhood, the shots of people running on beaches, windows, etc. it's all kind of ridiculous, to me, and doesn't seem real. it's like the film equivalent of bad literary fiction. it's beautiful and poetic, but where are the tits?

 

also his take on pocahontas was so romanticized it might as well have been avatar.

 

i do like the thin red line, though, despite the sometimes terrible voice overs.

on lump's: the bedroom scenes are dead-on, and I hope that one day you come to know this. When I have visualizations/fantasies of losing my wife (a remaining symptom of ptsd)all I can remember are things like he shows... not tits, ass etc.

On Remy's: agreed that his movies are aesthetically near perfect. But I disagree with "philosophical high mindedness." it's not very high as far as I'm concerned....

does anybody else feel like Malick and Trent Reznor are kinda alike in this way... that's how I've always felt; the message is somewhat adolescent (and samey, almost like they can't move on) but their handling of the medium is beautiful.

this trailer gives me nothing.

  On 12/16/2010 at 5:08 PM, Franklin said:

 

on lump's: the bedroom scenes are dead-on, and I hope that one day you come to know this. When I have visualizations/fantasies of losing my wife (a remaining symptom of ptsd)all I can remember are things like he shows... not tits, ass etc.

 

On Remy's: agreed that his movies are aesthetically near perfect. But I disagree with "philosophical high mindedness." it's not very high as far as I'm concerned....

 

does anybody else feel like Malick and Trent Reznor are kinda alike in this way... that's how I've always felt; the message is somewhat adolescent (and samey, almost like they can't move on) but their handling of the medium is beautiful.

that makes sense, though I'm trying to imagine Malick all roided out. I completely agree that he seems stuck in adolescence, which is why I called out the line in the trailer about being torn between mother and father...it seems like nothing short of a cosmic event will resolve this tension for Malick. He also pays lip service to the concept of "grace" in the trailer. I actually respond to religious overtones in more thought provoking works of art, provided they are handled right...for example Dostoevsky is just the perfect writer in that he can handle the more exalted themes precisely because he's so insightful and not afraid to get up to his elbows in complex human psychology. Malick seems more like the dreamy boy who resolutely refuses to come to terms with the world as it is...and he's aware of it...but he's just sort of defiantly staking his claim to this poetical view of life...pretty emo but he does it so well, so...

Regarding flashbacks of tits and ass, I was being a bit glib, but surely you'd focus on her face, and probably on real scenarios, rather than some rather nondescript little interlude...though I understand that too...I guess it's just his sort of overall ethereal approach that grates after a while, overly romanticized...why not remember the time you were fucking her and she queefed and you both burst out laughing? But of course that wouldn't fit in a Malick film...

Incidentally I've had my own bout with ptsd, took away four years of my life...and I was that dreamy boy who would rather climb a tree and daydream than hang out with his peer group...I respond really strongly to a non-logical and dreamlike view of life, but I've also arrived at a point where I like things that are imperfect and dirty, and Malick seems to lack that appreciation...

  On 12/16/2010 at 6:05 PM, lumpenprol said:

  On 12/16/2010 at 5:08 PM, Franklin said:

 

on lump's: the bedroom scenes are dead-on, and I hope that one day you come to know this. When I have visualizations/fantasies of losing my wife (a remaining symptom of ptsd)all I can remember are things like he shows... not tits, ass etc.

 

On Remy's: agreed that his movies are aesthetically near perfect. But I disagree with "philosophical high mindedness." it's not very high as far as I'm concerned....

 

does anybody else feel like Malick and Trent Reznor are kinda alike in this way... that's how I've always felt; the message is somewhat adolescent (and samey, almost like they can't move on) but their handling of the medium is beautiful.

 

that makes sense, though I'm trying to imagine Malick all roided out. I completely agree that he seems stuck in adolescence, which is why I called out the line in the trailer about being torn between mother and father...it seems like nothing short of a cosmic event will resolve this tension for Malick. He also pays lip service to the concept of "grace" in the trailer. I actually respond to religious overtones in more thought provoking works of art, provided they are handled right...for example Dostoevsky is just the perfect writer in that he can handle the more exalted themes precisely because he's so insightful and not afraid to get up to his elbows in complex human psychology. Malick seems more like the dreamy boy who resolutely refuses to come to terms with the world as it is...and he's aware of it...but he's just sort of defiantly staking his claim to this poetical view of life...pretty emo but he does it so well, so...

well put.

One thing worth mentioning is that trailers don't lend themselves well, at all, to Malick's projects. The trailer for The New World made it look truly awful, to the point where I was hardly excited to see it when it was released on DVD.

In other words, like GORDO, this trailer didn't do much for me, with the exception of one thing: the shot of Pitt and the little boy walking through the neighborhood at dusk was really gorgeous.

ha, my mom used to play in ddt.. my little 50's girl

  On 12/16/2010 at 6:05 PM, lumpenprol said:

things that are imperfect and dirty, and Malick seems to lack that appreciation...

I love that about Malick. His expression seems to be that every moment is a miracle and we should appreciate the miracle for being such. I see enough imperfect and dirty shit in the real world.

I love that he can appreciate beautiful things without putting in a context of beauty vs ugliness or hope vs despair. That is why you can pause his movies and view each frame as if a piece of art on the wall.

is it just me or has brad pitt's acting actually gotten worse over time?

  On 12/17/2010 at 7:20 AM, Awepittance said:

is it just me or has brad pitt's acting actually gotten worse over time?

i think it really depends on his role these days but i think he peaked with fight club and snatch.

I saw the trailer and failed to get a point in it. A lot of things "going on" but it all looks like some new age shit. What exactly am I missing?

  On 12/17/2010 at 7:20 AM, Awepittance said:

is it just me or has brad pitt's acting actually gotten worse over time?

yeah this.

looks epic

Congrats for winning the Palm d'Or. Can't wait to see it.

but all these pricks work for that illuminati thing.

if you can't beat them, join them

I heard it has cgi dinosaurs, it's going to be awesome.