"The Tree of Life" - is it any good?

I thought it was good, but I also thought that, in the immortal words of Peter Griffin, it “insists upon itself”. Just a little bit.

It seems that the reviews of the movie are divided among those who think it’s an artistic masterpiece and those who think it’s pretentious drivel. Reading the top reviews on IMDb, for example, will show almost everyone giving it either a 10 or a 1, with few ratings in between. I am in the middle, leaning toward the liking it side, as I do think it is a beautiful film and certainly different (and it is certainly unconventional in terms of plot structure and even the structure of the movie itself). I’d recommend it, just because it’s so unique. Other people will tell you that’s a reason to avoid it.

I really liked it. My wife, not so much.

She was bothered by what @DominicX referred to: its grandiosity. But I think that plays very well into its biblical themes. It’s grandiose in the same way that Genesis is grandiose. My wife knows very little about the bible, whereas I was weaned on it. She missed many of the subtle allusions to scripture that add interest and justify the tone of the film.

I couldn’t even sit through the trailer; seemed like boring pretentiousness to me. But I’m interested to hear what others think.

I saw it in the theater. My friend hated it and was bored. I came home and put it in my Netflix queue to see again. I’ve seen all of Malick’s films, so I am looking at them not only singly but as a body (insert auteur theory here), and I thought, “Wow!”

My film class instructor, a veteran of 26 years of movie reviews in a major newspaper, thought it was a disappointment, a big letdown.

I saw brilliance.

Yes, it is overgrand—self-aggrandizing, in fact, and proud of itself, much like a big painting of Picasso—but that self-importance does not make it less impactful, only less modest.

So I don’t know. Critics were divided—polarized, in fact—in the same way. But I’d say watch it and decide for yourself.

And while you’re watching it, keep your eye on a motif that I noticed but that I didn’t see mentioned in any review: doors and windows. Then come back here and let’s talk about them.

@Jeruba You’d be fun to go to the movies with.

I was amazed with it. It’s about thirty minutes too long, but I always appreciate a film so sure of itself it’s willing to go the limit, andit does phenomenally well at it, which makes up for its length. Inside this picture, you will see childhood, for Malick has taken every significant part of growing up and turned it into a film. There’s more to it, such as how it deals with man’s place in he universe, and how it delves into what life truly means. It is definitely worth watching, even if this isn’t the type of film you generally prefer.

After 30 minutes, I thought it was the best movie of last year.
Once it was over, it had lost me. I enjoyed it, but don’t understand it well.

I saw it twice in a theater (would’ve been more than twice if I’d been less busy). It is one of my favorite movies. I’ve never walked out of a movie thinking, “If I had the resources myself, that’s the movie I’d make” before seeing Tree of Life. It’s like nothing else.

I saw it. I cried. It’s very multi layered. It’s very deep, and I didn’t think it pretentious. I didn’t understand it all. But I understood enough. Maybe sometime I’ll watch it again, maybe not. But it’s very carefully made and I thought very, very good.

I thought it could have accomplished the same impressive presentation with better continuity.
Lots of ‘wow’ and plenty of “what?” and some of it was just pretty.
Seemed to me some of the ideas presented could have been done to a bit more depth. Or maybe a few less ideas each done to a bit more depth would have been more satisfying.
As is it was hard to tell if its creators actually got some of the points they seemed to be making.
But all-in-all I liked it.

So what did you think of it Jude?

Watching in a few minutes. Yesterday was all about school and cleaning Nikki’s place.