One person walked out halfway through. At the end, when the words, 'Written and Directed by Terrence Malick' appeared on the screen, the man in the row behind me said "Thank God" (and the rest of that sentence isn't "...for Terrence Malick movies.") As we exited the theater, employees were there asking how we enjoyed it. The guy in front of me said, "Didn't. Didn't care for that at all." This film has received wildly mixed reactions from audiences. It's a matter of what you're expecting. A strong narrative should not be expected and was not sought by the filmmaker. The film opens with parents dealing with the death of one of 3 boys, who's only shown briefly as a young boy. This paves the way for the film's theme of change, the how of it. Malick also deals with the How, as in its occurrence in nature. The Tree of Life is very thin on plot. But the story and themes of the film are strong. The characters are strong and well portrayed. Malick gets impressive performances out of everyone, most notably the 3 boys who play the O'Brien sons. No two people will view The Tree of Life in the same way. Everyone will get something different about it, if they can tolerate it. Understandably, some won't be able to. Though strong, The Thin Red Line (which I hold to be one of the best films of all time) and The New World are both better Malick films than Tree of Life. Some scenes and editing choices are culprits in its shortcomings. For example, some scenes seem to begin too late, not allowing the viewer to catch up with what's going on. The reason for some shots is not known. I'm OK with cutting in shots whose meaning is not known, as pieces of a puzzle, to be put together later in the viewer's mind. But some parts of these proceedings take you right out of the film and you're left to get yourself back into it. There are a couple such instances. So it's not perfect but if you've got the right attitude going in, you might like this film.
Review of The Tree of Life
