For a concise summary of what to expect from this film I can't do better than direct you to Rooprect's review. When I saw Tree of Life I think I was fortunate in that I knew absolutely nothing about it beforehand. All I knew was the title, and I'd briefly seen the enigmatic poster for it. But who was in the cast or who directed it, etc, I knew not. So I went in completely open minded. I also timed the cinema visit so I missed all the ads and trailers - I'm not saying this necessarily improved the viewing, but the nature of the movie is at a polar opposite to all that commercial stuff, and it was good not to be distracted by that crap. Turned out: It really was a memorable film, and I won't forget that couple of hours in the cinema watching it, it felt like a rare treat. Very enjoyable experience, but a film completely outside the usual Hollywood fodder of an Odeon or Vue.

This is my first review on IMDb. I just had to write this review because this "film" was seriously awful. I dismiss anyone who rated this film highly as pretentious and empty-headed. There were just too many scenes that didn't make any sense. Including, but not limited to Jessica Chastain floating by the tree, the child sending his mother's gown down the river, and the scene at the end where all these randoms start frolicking around. I appreciate unique and creative films but this one was just too... nonsensical. Utterly nonsensical. The point of the movie is never really made clear. It was only until I read the synopsis that I learned that Sean Penn, a celebrated actor who barely appears in 5% of the film, is actually the kid as a grown man. Either you have to be a genius to pick up on that, or I'm just too stupid to have figured that out, or I accidentally missed some scene in this film where Penn's character actually tells the audience "oh I'm the kid btw." A film should never be given a high rating solely based on artsiness or high production value. A film should have, more than anything, a plot. Which I never picked up on in those agonizing 2 hours and 19 minutes.

I'm just short of hating this movie. It is way, way, way too long for what it is trying to do. I might have appreciated like a 30 minute short of this style, pace, tempo, etc, but I just couldn't get through it without feeling bitter about wasting my time. If you saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, and loved the psychedelic space baby nonsense at the end, and feel that 2001's biggest fault was that it wasn't almost *entirely nonsense*, then consider watching Tree of Life. I don't think there was a single still video shot in the entire movie. Panning, sliding, zooming, steadycam running. Every. Single. Edit. Probably 50% of the movie is close-up shots of Jessica Chastain in perfect Magic-Hour lighting with birds chirping in the breeze. Oh, and whispering. So much whispering.