I had first heard about the film when reading about this year’s entrants at Cannes and that it was a major favourite for accolades at the festival and one definitely not to miss for the critics. It had supposedly been a long 5 year slog to get the film written, shot and released. Firstly, I think, Heath Ledger was in line to play, what was then, the Brad Pitt character back in 2007 but, for obvious reasons, had to be recast. Then, with a release date set in 2009, the shooting went over schedule, as they normally do on Mr. Mallick’s films and then, finally, problems with their distribution company led to the 2010 release date being cancelled. I hit up the trailer on You Tube and was immediately impressed and I could not wait for this monster of a film. I had then heard, 3 weeks later, that it took home the main prize at Cannes, the Palm D’Or Award, I knew it, this film was going to be huge. Bring it on, I thought
I have always loved Terrence Mallick’s films, the slowness of the stories, the depth of the subject matter, the sheer beauty of the photography, the quality of the acting, the unquestionable attention to detail from every department, I just love them, all 6 of them, yes, just 5 feature films. In Terrence Malick’s near 40 year career he has made only 5 films.
He kicked everything off in 1973 with the crime classic, Badlands which pretty much launched the careers of Martin Sheen & Sissy Spasek. In 1978, five years later, Malick tried his hand an epic period piece with Days of Heaven which would not only make Richard Gere a new leading man in Hollywood but it would also get legendary cult status where it is described as ‘the forgotten Terrence Malick film’ and ‘the greatest unknown film of the 70s.’ There would be then a 20 year gap in the career of Terrence Malick. He would move to Paris and begin work on his so called master piece ‘Q’ which then evolved into ‘The Tree of Life’ over 30 years later. In 1998, Malick would return with a whopper, probably, in my opinion, the greatest war movie of all time – The Thin Red Line. This brought him right back into the thick of it again, everyone talking about Terrence Malick, Terrence Malick, is this what he has been doing for twenty years? If you, for some weird reason, haven’t seen ‘The Thin Red Line’ get your arse out and see that film, it is unreal. Just talking about The Thin Red Line alone I could be here all night. 7 years would pass until his next project and it would be his example that a film can be a work of art, The New World. Now, this film wouldn’t get the praise as the others did, but, I could not give a shite, I thought it was deadly. You will never see photography like the photography in The New World in any other film, it is simply mind blowing and, ye know what, it is a perfect example of how quality an actor Colin Farrell really is. Then we have the one that Malick has been writing for 30 years, The Tree of Life and it is as good as anything he has done before. It is truly a spectacle.
I know, how some people must feel when reading this, I understand that some people don’t get it or that he’s not their cup of tea but for me, I think he is without question the best type of director making the best type of cinema. Cinema that actually means something, it’s about something, there are questions being asked. It’s about something that’s goes beyond the simple narrative of the film, so much so that, in some cases like The Tree of Life, for instance, the narrative can suffer. It is in the same ball park as 2001 Space Odyssey and Citizen Kane, and must be seen by all, doesn’t matter if they love it or loath it.
