The Tree of Life – movie review

Well. I’m glad I’ve had a few weeks to let this one stew. I mentioned I was going to see this movie having heard both rave and damning reviews. I am certainly glad I was warned of how ambitions the project was. An obvious stylistic comparison for me was Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Long dreamy passages with no dialogue and cosmic explosions … However, ‘The Tree of Life’ takes it much further and for me, was an emotional experience. Perhaps as I’m a mum I react more extremely to a story of a mother’s loss. The remaining son’s dichotomous relationship with his remote father and seemingly perfect mother, compounded by the tragic loss of his brother, coupled with the dreamy retro-lit sequences of the family outside, made it a memorable movie for me. My only criticism is that some of the sequences of the cosmos/volcanoes/clouds/marine life went on too long and seemed ultimately self-indulgent. There were a few snorts and even a few walk-outs during these episodes at my cinema (Dendy, Newtown, so you’d expect an open-minded crowd). All up, I’d recommend it.