Terrence Malick: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best
2. The Tree of Life (2011)
Undoubtably Malicks most personal film, The Tree of Life is also his most ambitious. The 2011 Palm dOr winner is centered on a young boy named Jack growing up in Texas during the 1950s, caught between the spiritual idealism of his mother (Jessica Chastain) and the hard working, authoritative mindset of his father (Brad Pitt). Surrounding his Jacks coming of age story are sequences showing the creation of the universe, scenes of a grown Jack (Sean Penn) wandering lost in the modern world, and a sort of heavenly rendezvous on a beach. When The Tree of Life stays focused on the scenes of young Jack in Texas, its the best filmmaking of Malicks career. Hes able to capture, perfectly, the beauty and uncertainty of growing up, of finding your own place in a world still dominated by your parents and other mysteries. When Tree of Life expands beyond that, though, it can be very uneven. The moments capturing the creation of our universe and planet are often astounding, especially considering the practical special effects employed to create it, but they can also drag at times. The bookending pieces of Sean Penn as an adult Jack also feel underwhelming; its not that theyre bad, they just cant possibly measure up to the magic that Malick creates in the meat of the film. If The Tree of Life does work for you, it's an extremely moving experience, straight through from its opening quote from the Book of Job up until the mysterious dancing light that heralds its ending. It is a film that isnt afraid to be bold, to ask why we are here, what this all means, and how we should live. Malick finds his own answers within the simplicity of the natural world, and while The Tree of Life doesnt give us all the answers we may want, its as powerful of a pondering as can be had.