5) The Tree of Life
Terence Malick’s films are, to many, less a source of “…huh??” than of “ughhhhhh.” It basically comes down to whether you think poetry is pretentious, not pretentious, or pretentious but forgivably so. Because everything about his movies is pretty much based in poetry, or the poetic impulse. The narration by the various characters usually is a kind of stream of consciousness poetry meant to express something they’re going through, most often in the form of questions like “What is this love that loves us?” (an actual quote from To The Wonder, which I….liked?).
Tree of Life is like all his other movies, only moreso. It captures these images in nature and of people and infants that are just gorgeous and full of meaning and emotion and pairs them with words and music in a way that transported many of us to our childhoods, portraying and nailing all these confusing emotions and experiences that we didn’t understand. Then at the end all these characters we’ve seen hang out together on a beach that is maybe heaven but definitely something metaphysical or symbolic because Sean Penn and the kid who plays the young Sean Penn are there together and they hug. It’s great and I’m sure I cried like James Van Der Beek at least one of the times I watched it, but hell if I know what it’s all supposed to mean, other than everything.
