Comments on: TREE OF LIFE, THE (Michael Tully)

By: HOME VIDEO PICKS – Hammer to Nail

HOME VIDEO PICKS – Hammer to Nail — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:00:47 +0000

[…] done most recently in Perfect Sense but also last summer’s Another Earth and, to a lesser extent, The Tree of Life, about which it might be more accurate to say that the cosmic is crafted from the intimate. […]

By: 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH – Hammer to Nail

4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH – Hammer to Nail — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 05:17:27 +0000

[…] most recently in Perfect Sense but also last summer’s Another Earth and, to a lesser extent, The Tree of Life, about which it might be more accurate to say that the cosmic is crafted from the intimate. […]

By: HOME VIDEO PICKS – Hammer to Nail

HOME VIDEO PICKS – Hammer to Nail — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:31:30 +0000

[…] a very welcome option. Here at HTN, many contributors had much to say about it, both good and bad: Michael Tully, Michael Nordine, Noah Buschel, Mike S. Ryan. Available on DVD and 3-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + […]

By: Elleoneiram

Elleoneiram — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:44:00 +0000

I love the reviews on Hammer to Nail, and I like this one, even though I didn’t feel the same way about the film. I only saw it once. I’d like to see it again sometime, but I do not have a burning desire. That said, I particularly liked your line about Laramie Eppler as R.L. As slight as his presence was, he and the father stood out to me as both characters and something more, different versions of humanity. I also appreciate that you noted the mother’s representation as Grace made her a less complex and interesting character than the father. She had a few moments of weakness and frustration – like when she struggles to free herself from her husband or at the beginning when she says she wishes she were dead to be with her son. Still, as a woman, I wasn’t particularly offended, but I was a little bored by yet another gorgeous, saintly mother figure.

By: MELANCHOLIA – Hammer to Nail

MELANCHOLIA – Hammer to Nail — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:02:30 +0000

[…] film, concerns a previously-undiscovered planet in extremely close proximity to our own; and The Tree of Life, whose astral chart is of the beginning of the world rather than its end. These celestial […]

By: Stoodio200

Stoodio200 — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 01:24:00 +0000

I liked the movie for showing us characters and a story without dialogue. Very interesting, perhaps a new direction for the movie-making industry.

By: Ben C

Ben C — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Well, I appreciated your focus on the son/brother angle. I didn’t know much about the autobiographical aspect of the film. Since watching it it’s really been knocking around my brain a bunch; and another big screen viewing is in order. Wanna babysit? ha. jk. Generally speaking, I guess it’d get tiresome if everybody starting doing it, but I admire him making a movie that attempts to take such a grand and broad look at the why?/wtf? of our existence.

By: Tully

Tully — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:18:00 +0000

I think you’re right, Ben. It might be a defensive gesture on my part to focus on the son/brother angle more than the religion. Multiple viewings have proven to deepen the experience, so I suggest you do give it a spin again before it leaves theaters!

By: Ben C

Ben C — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Awesome read. I loved this movie, but I can’t easily dismiss the religious ideas as being unimportant to its message. The opening quote from the Book of Job and the voiceover about the way of nature vs. the way of grace both speak to the idea of looking at life as a choice between those two options. I don’t suspect Malick is endorsing that viewpoint, though. Instead, I wonder if he means that the distinction between the way of nature and the way of grace represents a false dichotomy, that humanity has been presented with a false choice, that, in fact, the real choice in life is between accepting the way of nature or fighting against it. That if there is a way of grace, it’s the way of nature, perhaps? Brad Pitt’s devoutly religious character is depicted so negatively, there’s a depiction of the Big Bang of all things, it features a scene showing inexplicable mercy by one dinosaur to another, and the very title of the film all would seem to support that theory. I think. I don’t know. Maybe that’s a crazy stretch. I definitely want to see it again.