I searched my email for 'Tree of Life' and these are the emails that surfaced (below). They are in no real order and are from more than a handful of thoughtful folks. It's interesting to me that folks want to talk about it so much. Is that the sign of a 'good' movie? Had I a tape recorder with me at all times I could probably triple the number of comments shown here.
"Im ready to talk about the tree of life. More than ready. My opinion is very very clear:]"
"I am very curious what's your opinion of Tree of Life. Whats your rating from 0 to 10?"
"I don't think I could give a 0 to 10 rating. I loved the movie. It impacted me in a big way. I appreciated the cinematography and the family dynamics as much as I have appreciated cinematography and family dynamics in any movie before it. I think T. Malik could be playing a joke on the audience with the whole evolution montage but I'm ok with whatever he was trying to show. I think it is up to us to decide what to do with all the creation stuff. I often view the world in such grandiose ways so it appealed to me to start with creation and end with prayers and characters walking around on the beach gazing at each other. The world looks and feels like that to me, often. Above anything else, I think it is a brave movie and I am sucker for brave movies. Looking forward to hear your thoughts."
"Not without the reason I named that movie to be in "Kentucky" style;)
We will talk."
"You'll have to explain 'Kentucky' style to me. Can't wait to hear what it means."
"Did you see Tree of Life? i have very mixed feelings about it - sort of loved half of it and hated the other half. I felt like he was messing with the audience."
"I really liked Tree of Life. My mother wrote a cool review/response on it. She is an ordained minister (of the church of England no less) so she has an interesting take on the spiritual side of things. I agree, though, it could all just be a huge joke on the audience. If it is, then I think I like T. Malick even more. Have you watched the Newsweek Oscar Roundtable? Christopher Plummer was on it this year and they asked him about working with Malick. He said he would never do it again. But Christopher Plummer lives in the alternate reality that people who have been movies for more than 10 years live in. Then again, I think Malick doesn't even really exist."
"I loved the family and their story - Brad Pitt was awesome in it, terrifyingly threatening without doing a lot. But I found the 'big picture' stuff frustrating - for me it didn't add anything, didn't provoke me to think about the family's narrative any differently - it was just too on the nose. And the dinosaurs....well, we won't go there. Then again, I would be interested in a different perspective, I'll have a read of your mum's thoughts."
"Having gone to school in the south, with folks that didn't believe in evolution, the evolution/creation montage in Tree of Life was entirely necessary for me. I'm guilty of viewing the world in such grandiose ways so aligning one family's story with that of the dinosaurs was welcomed. And ending a movie with prayers and characters roaming about a beach is a brave thing to do and I'm even more of a sucker for brave movies. I mean, if you can do it then why not? Right? I'm on day five of trying to make it through the russian version of Solaris, talk about brave movies, I mean there is one scene where a dude just drives through road tunnels for like 17 minutes. Love it! I fell asleep two night in a row to the same scene!!"
"I can appreciate how people will have massively different perspectives on Tree of Life. And I am also one for viewing things as EPIC, or grandiose as you put it, but the dinosaur bit felt like a massive slap with a wet fish in the middle of the film for me, it really jarred. I take your point about being brave though, that is defintely a requirement of the cinema for me."
"You're right. I love it. Especially since light was such a monumental element of the movie and the means by which the viewer is affected. Dude, we need to talk soon."
"Make sure you check Tree of Life. It's worth the energy."
"I think you'll like this. It's a bit technical, but I find it to be really insightful.
http://www.theasc.com/ac_magaz
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