This will have to be the final Countdown to Cannes article, since I am now already in the South of France, waiting for the festival curtain to open tomorrow with the morning screening of
Woody Allen's
Midnight in Paris, and what better way to sign off this mini series with one of the most widely anticipated films to be included this year. In fact, in all honesty,
Terrence Malick's
The Tree of Life is one of the most anticipated films to screen anywhere this year, and that's sort of part and parcel of a Malick film, given the auteur's tendency to draw out his film-making process to almost unbearable lengths. Like it or not, that ensures that every Malick film becomes an event, far beyond the usual experience of a cinematic release. So while the fanfares of the festival might be focused elsewhere, I can guarantee that a good section of the critics joining us here in Cannes will have marked the screening date of The Tree of Life firmly into their diaries. Stay tuned for those all important reasons...
Reasons to be Excited It's Terrence Malick for Christ's sake. He makes hugely grand, visually stunning films, and for good reason has been christened Hollywood's poet in response to his work. Okay so he's only made five films in almost 40 years? A visual portrait is only as good as what you put into it, and so far, his end products have mostly justified the means. On paper the head of the cast is very good, with relative newcomer Jessica Chastain (who is not only incredibly striking looking but can probably count herself as one of the biggest breakthroughs in the next year) backed up by heavy-weights Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. The trailer looks exceptionally intriguing, with a definite and distinct stylistic bent, and a sense of magic realism that adds a wonderfully enticing magic to Malick's forthcoming latest.
But Be Wary Can anything this anticipated ever live up to the hype? Malick is a genius when it comes to visual cinema: his shot composition and the achievement of his aesthetic tone are unbelievable, and he is arguably one of the finest aestheticists currently working in the world of film, but I feel he occasionally fails to match that visual success with substance. And no amount of beauty can make up for something that isn't engaging. The bigger the film's message, the more likely Sean Penn is to grand-stand it, towering above everyone else and stealing focus the entire time he's on screen. Unless he's offered appropriate balance, I can see this happening again here. I don't like flowery and evasive synopsises, because they seem to deliberately try and not tell the truth of the plot. And Tree of Life's is a bloody case in point:
We trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, Jack, one of three brothers. At first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the worlds way of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth. From this story is that of adult Jack, a lost soul in a modern world, seeking to discover amid the changing scenes of time that which does not change: the eternal scheme of which we are a part. When he sees all that has gone into our worlds preparation, each thing appears a miracleprecious, incomparable. Jack, with his new understanding, is able to forgive his father and take his first steps on the path of life. The story ends in hope, acknowledging the beauty and joy in all things, in the everyday and above all in the familyour first schoolthe only place that most of us learn the truth about the world and ourselves, or discover lifes single most important lesson, of unselfish love.
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