Sunday, July 03, 2011

Adjustment Bureau



This is one each romantic Philip K. Dick film, highly recommended!

The Tree of Life

Yes, it was worth the wait. And the drive -- after all, why would the Cannes Palme d'Or Winner show any closer than Wichita? Thanks to the Warren Theaters for not just showing the film, but showing it properly. Even a quiet film needs great sound and sharp focus.
A quiet film tackling the big questions. Well, not so much as tackling as holding the questions up to the light in  a way we might not have seen yet. Certainly " The Thin Red Line" was a war movie, but it was a war movie like no other, and this film, apparently long delayed, resonates at an even higher frequency than Thin Red Line.
Is that possible, one might ask, since the Criterion Blu Ray of the The Thin Red Line, freshly viewed, gave this viewer several days of shame about the quality of his entertainment choices.
Comparing TRL and Tree of Life is actually more appropriate than comparing it to Transformers or even Malick's last masterpiece, "The New World". Thematically TRL and TOL both probe the nature of man, the nature in man, and perhaps urges us, albeit obliquely, to humble thyself in the face of the beauty and majesty of the shape of chaos that seems to exist in every nook and cranny.
Call TOL "Affliction" with a positive outcome and a side of God, if one must, as long as one recognizes this is not a sign of conversion from yours truly. Malick has something to show us all. I was able to enjoy Transformers this long weekend also, so have no fear, I am not going all Arthouse on you. Tree of Life is for anyone with an open heart and an open mind.
(there are dinosaurs!)
Recommended.