Neal Vitale Reviews: The Tree Of Life
May 30, 2011
2 stars out of 5
Writer/director Terrence Malick's films (Badlands, Days Of Heaven, The New World) appear with the frequency of comets and are greeted similarly, as solemn portents. We are in auteur territory with Malick, as he tackles BIG issues - in The Tree Of Life, the beginning and end of mankind, forces of nature, the consequences of choices, living with guilt, blah, blah - and does so with glorious imagery and grand, sweeping vision. But his work unfolds in languorous fashion (a stupefying 138 minutes here), and much is left for the viewer to interpret and to try to stitch together into some semblance of coherence. While I applaud the scale and scope of The Tree Of Life and the beauty of several sequences, I can't shake the overwhelming sense of self-indulgence that neither entertains nor enlightens.