Large William's Pick: TREE OF LIFE (Region 1 DVD & Blu-Ray; 20th Century Fox [US]/E1 Entertainment [Canada])
Tree of Life. A film that had cinephiles chomping at the bit, opened to mixed reactions at Cannes this past year, but ultimately, garnered top prize there. Terence Malick has become increasingly more fixated on the enormous, profound beauty of life, earth, the heavens, and how man's relationship to each of those things are intertwined. Whether it's insects or flowers, Malick finds the transcendent poetry in them. With his latest offering, it would seem that he's tackled the elusive mystery of life through the dynamic of Father/Son bonds and the lifelong ripple effects those bonds have on all involved. How things seemingly small and insignificant in a boy's life can be magical or tragic.. A missed baseball game, fireworks with your Father and myriad other snapshots in the proverbial photo album of one's life. By now, allow me to provide full disclosure, I have not yet seen the film*. I've merely seen the trailer twice. Once during the theatrical run of the film and once before writing this. The first time I watched this trailer, it literally moved me to tears. I immediately proclaimed that based on the strength of the trailer alone, Tree of Life would be my number one film of the year. The beauty of Malick's lyricism, and of course, the skin I have in the game; my relationship with my own Father and the gift I've had bestowed on me of Fatherhood to my own two young boys. The constant striving to be the best man I can be, the questioning of whether the tremendously important decisions I have, no matter how altruistic my intentions, are going to bear out as the right ones... Malick seems to have captured the enormity of it all, an emotional epic that seems to be to Father/Sons what 2001 was to space and time(and so much more..)
If you buy one film I suggest all year, let it be this one. Malick is still an artist, untainted by the drone of the Hollywood machine. Still as wide eyed and fascinated by his surroundings as ever...
Kisses,
William
*Update- 10 minutes after writing this, I put my Loonies and Toonies where my mouth is, and ordered the blu/DVD combo pack
Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray/DVD Combo
Amazon Instant
Blu-Ray.com Review
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