'Tree of Life'

'Tree of Life  (PG-13)  (3 1/2 stars)

Writer and Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn, Fiona Shaw

"Tree of Life" from the reclusive Terrence Malick can be a frustrating movie but Malick always makes the most haunting and beautiful movies of any filmmaker I know. "Tree of Life" has a middle section that is one of the best movies I have ever seen but it is bookended by a beautiful but frustrating beginning and ending. "Tree of Life" tells the story of the O'Brien family and the movie is set in the 1950's. The movie starts out with images of the creation of earth and they are surreal and breathtaking but they don't flow which I didn't mind. I only have a problem because I wanted to get to the heart of the material here which concerns the family.

Then the ending left me cold and frustrated when it looks like Malick is giving us a look at the end of the World where all loved ones meet at their final destination. I found it all haunting but then the movie gives us clips of Sean Penn, playing an adult version of one of the characters, walking by buildings  on empty streets muttering something. I did not feel a sense of closure but maybe that is the point if this is Malick's vision of the afterlife. I had to see this movie twice to try to understand and enjoy more the beginning and end and still felt frustrated because the middle story is so beautiful and powerful. I love it so much that I felt even more that the beginning and ending took away from the power of the story of the O'Brien family.

Also at the first viewing I was annoyed by the narration which is mostly prayers recited by the main characters. Some say this is a very spiritual movie and some say it is very religious and I think it is very religious. I am an agnostic but that is not why I was annoyed, it just seemed distracting and maudlin. On the second viewing I changed my mind because I found great beauty and poetry in the prayers. Malick's story here is very personal and I think it is the reason the movie is so powerful. Malick  was obviously raised in a very religious family and the story is autobiographical. The most haunting, powerful religious experience I have ever encountered at the movies was "The Last Temptation of Christ" and this movie is equally powerful and religious.

The story of the O'Brien family deals with Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. Mr. O'Brien is a very religious man and tough minded father who takes out the frustrations of his career out on his kids especially his second oldest son played by newcomer Hunter McCracken.
We learn in the beginning that the oldest son has passed away and this is told to us in a powerful way and the movie starts to be amazing. Brad Pitt gives a subtle, powerful and solid performance and it is easily the best performance he has given in his career so far. Jessica Chastain is equally amazing, ethereal, beautiful and solid. This is a performance that can start the sky rocketing of a major acting carreer. If I was a casting agent and saw this performance I would sign this actress up in a heartbeat.  Hunter McCracken, as the second oldest son, gives one of the most powerful and natural performances I have seen a child actor give on screen. He holds his own with Pitt and he never hits a false note.

The movie is also one of the most beautifully shot movies I have ever seen and that is true of every Malick film. In 1978 he shot in my opinion his best movie ever in "Days of Heaven" and "Tree of Life" is equal in every way to the beauty of that 70's classic. Malick uses two of the best technical talents in the business in Production Designer Jack Fisk and Director of Photography Emanuel Lubezki, two Hollywood legends. The middle story has some of the most truthful, real and hauntingly beautiful shots of kids playing and doing what they do naturally. You feel like you are really there watching real kids and the period recreation is flawless and majestic. I even saw my own childhood in all these shots. I love the family eating dinner at the dinner table and it made me ache to the days when we used to sit at the table with the family, eat dinner and let our dad talk about his frustrating day at work and scold us.

I love the middle section of the story dealing with the O'Brien's so much that I forgive all the things I find fault with in this movie. The Brad Pitt performance is one of my favorite performances of all time and you never see him acting. I fell in love with Mrs. O'Brien on my second viewing thanks to the beautiful Jessica Chastain and her subtle, haunting and graceful performance. I could see this movie over and over again for the family scenes and breathtaking cinematography and for the performances. I would probably fast forward through most of the beginning and tolerate the ending. Besides my problems with these parts I still find "Tree of Life" one of the best movies I have seen this or any other year.