Tree of...I Have No Idea...

This tree doesn't appear anywhere in the film. The house does, but that's the least of your worries.

The only context I had going into the Tree of Life was a fake review of the film by a pair of comedians, that Brad Pitt was in it, and that it was rather…unusual. I doubt I could have prepared myself enough for this film even if I did know more, and after reading the Wikipedia article after watching the film I doubt I still would have had any grasp of what was going on.

I was, and still am, very conflicted about Tree of Life. I have never, ever seen a film quite like it, even when it comes to other ‘puzzle’ films, or ‘psychological thrillers’ as T.J. called them in class today. It transcends linearity in almost every form, even transcending a plot or common sense at times. Dialogue is extremely limited save for a couple dozen monologues, which I couldn’t stand, and I think the film would have been better off if the monologues were left out and the audience was left with just the actors’ reactions so that they could formulate their own ideas as to what the characters were thinking. I felt like the movie was three different films in one; a family drama with an asymmetrical story, a CGI and stock-footage montage of Earth’s creation, and a very abstract view of heaven, which really messed me up in the first hour of the film as I tried to understand what it was settling on.

I can certainly understand the messages behind Tree of Life; I just have trouble understanding everything else about the film.