Directed by: Terrence Malick
Written by: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn
IMDB page & official trailer:
movie girl:
We (me and The Boy;))) saw this movie at some friends’ house, on a Sunday evening. By the time it ended, our friends were asleep. Now, this might not mean that it was boring, maybe just simply peaceful, and dreamy.
I watched it trying to suspend my judgment, with patience, after a certain point not expecting something that would tie it all together anymore. I’d say it had a certain naturalistic feel to it, it was like a being's perception of itself, of interior processes of life (the flowing of the blood through the transparent veins of an embryo made quite an impression on me) as well as the exterior development of life – in plants, in atmosphere, in human relations. The film makes a connection between the micro- and the macro-universe, in that sense.
Also, it gives existence a certain palpable consistency, which makes it strange and that’s probably why the viewer will tend to resist it. (We don’t like to feel our life; we like to live it, to consume it).
I would assume the movie was intended to reflect the perspective of a child on the world, but if it did, the world chosen was kind of one-sided and burdening.
Characters, in this film, don’t really have a strong contour, they talk very little, even act very little and relatively in one direction, they don’t surprise you, they don't have multiple faces or complex psychologies. They contemplate and are contemplated by the camera.
So, ok, it’s a film that makes you think about life, memories, childhood, the connectedness of the universe, love for all things and so on. But does it do it right? I didn’t get a clear sense of the way I should think of these things, it didn’t suggest a direction (or I didn’t see it). It shows how life lives through you and that’s kind of upsetting for the individualistic ego-enthusiast person that I am. I cannot adjust my behavior to that, but it is a point of view I will adopt once in a while.
Rating: 6,2
I have been warned to see this movie fully prepared to experience "dead" moments and almost-boring fragments. I gathered enough patience and I chose an uncomfortable chair over a welcoming couch. Seemed a good choice as I succeeded to stay committed and interested, more than that, some parts of the movie got me bending towards the tv.
There are three aspects of the movie I find as being very important to highlight. First of all, the tangible feeling of some of the actions. This is a movie that made me actually feel the grass, the water, a pain in a finger or the coldness of a window. The insistence and the duration of some of the movements or the small life episodes and their authenticity together with the whispering monologues or dialogues created a being there context. Secondly, it made me feel little, almost insignificant. Starting with the images of the Creation-like of the Universe, the forceful but yet majestic nature, up to a childbirth and his growing up, this movie is presenting his audience two powerful sides, the immensity of Chaos and the almost suffocating uniqueness of the human nature. It makes life important, but rather in a cycle kind of way, than in its individuality. Thirdly, it is one of the most genuine representations of the American family I have ever seen in a movie. Nothing exaggerated, a perfectly chosen speech, an experience close to what very well might have been a 50s documentary over a common life.
My final thoughts about this movie are pointing to a carefully selected soundtrack and a good acting from Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. The patience that I thought I needed for this film is synonym to the presence and carefulness I have to have in my life, about my life. If it bores you those 10 minutes about the birth of the Universe, think about the fact it took Universe billions of years to form. If it bothers you that 1 hour from the kid's birth to an-age-he-could-have-a-fight-with-his-dad, think about the 14 years of life that passed. And also, think about the flashes in the year 2001, with the skyscrapers and all we call "contemporary". We got there in seconds.
Rating: 7,0
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