The Tree of Life (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Tree of Life (2011) – T. Malick

Some movies elicit thoughts at higher rates than others -- suffice it to say Malick's film generates them fairly steadily all the way through (including such thoughts as "what the hell is that?" and "is that CGI or real?", not to mention the more existential and religious thoughts that were likely intended). The movie roughly focuses on recalled memories of a 1950s Texas childhood and parallel to that, the birth, early years, and presumed death of the universe. But everything is in snippets, brief dialogue-less anecdotes, voice-overs, occasional longer scenes and a heap of tracking shots. In the experimental portion, we see images from the Hubble telescope, underwater worlds, sunflowers, and much more -- all beautiful. At its end, a possibly Christian conclusion, there are echoes of Bergman and Fellini (compounding the Kubrick 2001 starting point). So, that's a lot going on in one movie, and while it drags in places, it is certainly worth a look (on the big screen).