Comments on: THE TREE OF LIFE: Film Print vs. Digital Print

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:12:00 +0000

You’re retarded.

By: Tom Whelan

Tom Whelan — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Thanks, Mike, for the thoughtful digital/film print comparison. In film school, back in 1987, we were told film would be dead and digital would take over “in ten years.” We are not there yet.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:36:00 +0000

Came here looking for information about whether I should see the film digitally or on film…. having not yet seen the film, i wasn’t coming hoping for spoilers. Would be nice if there was a tl;dr for people who plan to only see the film once to make a choice.

By: cheetah

cheetah — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:57:00 +0000

I get the sense that Mike S. Ryan made up his mind that Tree Of Life was a masterpiece before he even saw it. Like Nick Pinkerton at Village Voice who said Tree Of Life was beyond a masterpiece.
The father/son drama is half the movie. If Ryan is saying that is what the movie is about or that is the masterful aspect of the movie, um, that leaves out half the movie as not masterful.
But these people heard Malick was making a movie about the universe and that was it. That was all they needed. Tree Of Life is probably Malick’s most flawed film. Not as epic as Thin Red Line. Not as original as Badlands as that is where Malick first did his poetic dance. But these guys like Ryan and Pinkerton made up their mind when they first heard about the movie.

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 08:28:00 +0000

One very simple aspect of the film to digital argument I would recommend you include is the aspect of reel changes on a physical print. My initial viewing at an advance screening was digital and my second viewing upon release in 35mm. Having worked as a projectionist for many years growing up and now as a hobby/side job, a reel change is embedded in my mind from many years of screening prints before release to check their quality. With the digital presentation of The Tree of Life, I felt a greater sense of immersion into the film with no reel changes. A sign of a really good film for me over the years has become when I do not notice reel changes.

By: Lyncho14

Lyncho14 — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0000

I loved TREE OF LIFE and I did love the space IMAX imagery I felt that added to the themes of chaos, life and creation. Showing how vast the universe is and that it shows contrast between the tensions that were happening in the film. I saw this film weeks ago, but I remember feeling that there was some irony from the scene before we enter the Space sequence. It brought me back to Space Oddy 2001 feelings. Which is another reason this film is a must see on the big screen on a 35mm print.

I think overall Terrance Mailk’s ability to be a visual story teller and make you feel like you are watching real life but yet it’s photographed with such beauty. I love his work.

By: Jonathan Houting

Jonathan Houting — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:51:00 +0000

The title of this article is very misleading. I counted 36 sentences in the piece, only 16 of which actually pertain to how the film print differs from the digital print. While this was interesting (although I don’t know how many people would be able to tell the difference if they didn’t know which one they were going to see the movie with), I didn’t want to read another review of the movie, especially one that is so glib and doesn’t really have a conversation with the film. Better try next time.

By: Jonathan Houting

Jonathan Houting — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:46:00 +0000

The title of this piece is quite misleading. I’ve counted 36 sentences in the article, only 16 of which actually pertained to how the digital print was different from the film print. While this part was actually interesting, I had no desire to read another review of the film, especially one that is so glib, one-sided and doesn’t actually have a conversation with the film. Better try next time.

By: Kyle Crockard

Kyle Crockard — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:34:00 +0000

It doesn’t sound like there’s really a reason to see it a second time on digital if it’s so distracting and far too sharp – the recommendation here is to get into a film theatre to check it out. I will!

By: unread_writer

unread_writer — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:30:00 +0000

“Cowardly” may not be quite the right word, but there’s nothing amiss in Mike Ryan pointing out that taking refuge in the supernatural, whether that means a superhero or Christian myth, hasn’t been a defensible narrative development in adult art for several hundred years now, whatever the beliefs of the writer or his audience may be.

The more common strategy today, for writers who run out of ideas, is magico-mystical mumbo-jumbo, as seen as network TV. Which makes about as sense as heaven as a resolving device.