Tree of Life

Tree of Life

Written and directed by Terrence Malick

With:  Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Fiona Shaw, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan

     Not since 2001 Space Odyssey, has a film so powerfully and beautifully dealt with the Big Picture until now, with the release of Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life.  This very challenging film tackles not only the mysteries of life, death and eternity, but also the awe of the creation of Earth and the universe, indeed, the meaning of our existence.  The scope of this film is so vast that   that director Malick seems to have performed a miracle in putting it all into one magnificent 2 ½ hour film.  The Tree of Life won the top prize, the Palme d’ Or at Cannes this Spring.

     It is the 1950’s in Waco Texas and a young couple, the O’Briens, is starting their family which will eventually be three sons.   The neat lawns, crew cuts, vintage automobiles, women in aprons recall that bygone era with scrupulous detail.

Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) gives birth to her first son, Jack.  Later on we see Jack (Sean Penn) as a middle aged man, in a gleaming  Houston high rise.  He is a lost soul searching for the meaning of  life  as he reflects on his childhood.    Whispered narrations lead us from scene to scene.  When, as a child, Jack’s brother is killed by some unnamed force, the film’s tone takes a tragic turn.  Jack asks God “Where are you?”

     Tree of Life then turns to the maelstrom of creation.  There are exploding galaxies, pulsing nebulae, rivers of molten eruptions, cells dividing, jellyfish forming, hammerhead sharks circling, deafening thunderstorms, dinosaur appearing.   Finally we see young Jack emerging from the water, when finally he is an infant in his mother’s arms.   Every child’s story is a story of all creation, Malick seems to say.

     Jack’s father (Brad Pitt) is a square- jawed, often abusive disciplinarian, who demands hugs from his sons as instruments of control.  He is a frustrated inventor who also plays classical music on the family piano.  His son Jack (Hunter McCracken) is too often the recipient of his father’s rage. Mr. OBrien’s wife is a warm and kind woman who delights in cavorting with her sons, dancing in the rain, serving three squares a day.  She is as close to an angel as one can get.

     Jack’s loss of innocence is chronicled as he runs with a gang of youngsters, breaking some windows, torturing a frog and injuring a dog.  It is disturbing to watch, but a metaphor for his fall from grace.   Tree of Life is replete with allusions to brute nature (Jack’s father) and spiritual grace (his mother).

     God has a leading role in Tree of Life.   Questions that are whispered to Him by Jack are answered in the form of a rustle of a curtain, shadows on the wall, the gurgling of a stream.  Those answers are necessarily oblique.  Because there are no answers.

     Beautiful orchestral and choral music by Brahms, Berlioz and other classical composers accompany many scenes of the film.  The score turns ominous at times such as when Jack is being unreasonably punished by his father. The cinematography captures not only the violence of creation but also the tidy Eisenhower Era  streets of Waco Texas.  There are exquisite panoramas over rustling fields, rolling rivers, and quiet views of the spotless interiors of the O’Brien house.

    Tree of Life is not a mainstream film, and undoubtedly it will frustrate many viewers.  A film that is elliptical, allegorical and, at times, surreal demands patience and reflection.  For example, towards the end, adult Jack, in his business suit, walks on the  endless bleached sands of eternity, encountering  long deceased friends and family members.  The presence of God is a constant in this film.  Aside from the cosmic concerns of the film, the scenes of the O’ Brien family demonstrate Malick’s deep understanding of family dynamics: the tenderness, the sadness, the tensions.  Indeed, there is enough material about this family for a separate movie.  Hunter McCracken who plays the young hurt, fearful and angry Jack, delivers a spectacular performance of depth. And watching the gorgeous Jessica Chastian is one of the films many pleasures.

     Very rarely does a film come along that is as provocative, powerful, and groundbreaking as Tree of Life.   It inspires us to think in ways we rarely do.  This film is simply a great work of Art.  Seeing it is an extraordinary experience.

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris

Written and directed by Woody Allen

With: Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams,

Michael Sheen, Owen Wilson, Tom Hiddelston, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Kurt Fuller,

Mimi Kennedy, and Lea Seydoux

If you love Paris when it sizzles, you will love Woody Allen’s captivating and smart “Midnight in Paris.” The film is packaged throughout with exquisite daytime Paris scenes bathed in golden light as well as nighttime scenes shrouded in mists and cobbled streets wet with rain. This film is another of Allen’s valentines to Paris. Air France must be delighted with the release of this film.

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is the quintessential American in Paris. He and his fiancée, Ines, are accompanying her parents on one of her father’s business trips. Gil is a successful but frustrated hack Hollywood screen writer who hates what he does. He is working on a novel about nostalgia. Spoiled Ines’s only goal is to live in Malibu on Gil’s residuals while he would be delighted to live in an artist’s garret in Paris. Unfortunately for Gil, they run into Paul, a smug and pedantic professor friend of Ines, and have to spend time with him. Ines thinks Paul is great; Gil thinks he is pompous and pretentious. Gil and Ines seem ill suited for each other.

But Gil lucks out as “Midnight in Paris” takes an unexpected turn. Escaping from Ines’

boring friends, Gil wanders the streets of Paris. At the stroke of midnight, an

ancient Rolls Royce pulls up and its occupants, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, urge Gil to come to a soiree with them. He finds himself at a lost generation party alongside Cole Porter, Ernest Hemmingway, Salvador Dali and others. Since Gil’s specialty is nostalgia, this is right up his alley. He is understandably awestruck, enchanted and almost speechless—but not totally speechless because he asks both Hemingway and Gertrude Stein to read his manuscript. 

Nothing lasts forever, however,and  Gil has to come back to present time and spend time with temperamental Ines and her grouchy Tea Party member parents, whose main interests seem to be shopping and eating in expensive restaurants.  

This is Woody Allen at his best. Nostalgia has repeatedly been a theme for him. The story is loaded with stars and a celebrity or two. Even Carla Bruni, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife has a part in this oh so Francophile film. “Midnight in Paris” is filmed exquisitely with tantalizing views of the Eiffel tower, Monmartre, the flea markets, the Seine and, of course, the cafes and bistros.

Each cast member shines. They obviously love the film and the chance to impersonate literary giants and artists of the 1920s. Owen Wilson could not be better. He embodies the Woody Allen persona, a man full of self-doubt, dissatisfied with many things. Mostly he longs to inhabit a bygone era and to be able to have the challenging and intellectual conversations absent from his present life with Ines.

Time travel may be a wacky concept but it seamlessly works in “Midnight and Paris,” something not easy to pull off. But Allen succeeds. All of this is silly and fun. And, of course, it is always entertaining to see how many stars Allen can squeeze into a film. And did I mention how very romantic it is?