Films About Trees

Two films about Trees, or at least that have the word Tree in the title.

There seems to be a very sharp divide on Terrence Malick's latest film, The Tree of Life. According to a poll in The Guardian, 57% thought is was a "Profound Masterpiece", while the other 43% thought is was "Pretentious nonsense". Malick directed one of my all time favorite films, Days of Heaven, so I was really hoping to like this film. (See my 5/14/11 post)

The Tree of Life tries to take on the meaning of life. I would not say that is pretentious nonsense. One the other hand, it may be just plain pretentious to think you can do that in film—even a long film.

Days of Heaven was not considered a success when it was released. It was criticized, because the narrative is a bit murky, and there are many sequences in the film that are visually stunning, but have little to do with advancing the plot. i.e. wheat fields. In that film, which has a relatively simple plot line, I thought all that helped to set the tone of the film.

The Tree of Life is similar in a lot of ways. But when you have a plot that is not presented chronologically, and then you include long sequences of the galaxies evolving, and then some more sequences of dinosaurs, to me it just becomes a jumbled mess. The core of the story, which involves a family with three young boys growing up in the fifties, is very well acted. It was just a little too disjointed for me to appreciate.

The father and mother in film are play by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, and I can't criticize their performances. In general though, when two people are married in a film, even if they no longer love, or even like, each other, I would like to see some evidence that at one time they had a reason to be together. I find it tiresome to watch a couple on film, and the whole time to be thinking "what possible reason could these two people have ever had for being together". I don't see how you can ever understand what went wrong with a relationship, unless you have some idea why it started in the first place.

That being said, you may be one of the 53% who would think this is a masterpiece, so don't let me stop you from seeing it.



The Tree, a film from Australia, is the second film. This film starts out with a generally happy family in semi-rural Australia, but things turn bad when the father has a heart attack, and smashes the truck he is driving into a massive tree growing in front of their house. He dies, and the family is left bereft. The middle daughter comes to believe that her father's spirit has been transferred into the tree. In due course, the massive roots of the tree begin to create problems, for both the family, and their neighbors. This then leads to a conflict over whether or not the tree should be cut down.

Unlike the sweeping scope of The Tree of Life, this film is tightly focused on the family involved, and their personal attempts to deal with a traumatic situation. Much like The Tree of Life, The Tree uses landscape to enhance the tone of the film, but in this case that use is integrated into the narrative of the film, and not added in as interruptions to the narrative.

The Tree has a rather languid pace, which is appropriate for a film focused on dealing with loss. It does, however, have a very dramatic ending, so that when the film is over you do feel like something has happened.

All this to say, I liked The Tree better than The Tree of Life.



As I final note, I would add that both films contain strong performances from very young actors, and are probably worth seeing just for that.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Pt. 3

This is my third post on Werner Herzog's new film Cave of Forgotten Dreams. (September 16, 2010 & February 26, 2011) I actually saw the film today. I am not generally a big fan of 3D, but for parts of this film it was very effective and affective. Much of the art work filmed in the Chauvet Cave is on contoured walls, and this was more vividly displayed in 3D, than it could have ever been in 2D. Sometimes it really did fell like you where standing under the images looking up at them on the cave walls. In additions to the art work that is over 30,000 years old, the rock formations and crystals of the cave are incredible by themselves. This film did live up to my high expectations.

Here is a recent interview with Herzog about the film.

Days of Heaven

Here from the Museum of the Moving Image, a video about one of my all time favorite films, Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven.

Two James Franco Films

Recently I have seen two films starring James Franco films. Both deviate from the structure of a normal narrative film. It is always risk to try to do this, but both directors still succeeded in creating engaging, and thought provoking films.

Yesterday I saw 127 Hours, based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who, while hiking alone in the Utah, fell into a crevice, and had his arms pinned under a boulder that fell on it. He was there 127 hours before he cut off the arm to escape. Much of the press on this film is about people passing out from the scene of the amputation, and something like this seems to have happened when I saw the film. Shortly after the critical scene there was a big commotion in theater, with people jumping up and calling for medical assistance. The film continued running, and after a couple minutes everyone settled down. I am not sure what happened, but an ambulance was outside when I left the theater.

It is a very intense film, and there is something in the primitive part of the brain that really does not like to see body parts being cut off. At the same time I would not consider it a sensationalistic film. The Ralston character is very well developed, with most of the film dealing with the lead up to the accident, and then his struggle as he is trapped for five days. The films actually works better because practically everyone in the audience knows what is going to happen in the end. While this lessens the shock when the amputation happens, it does increase the tension throughout the film, partly because everyone is hoping they don't pass out.

For perhaps a majority of the film Franco is the only actor on screen, although you could argue that the Utah landscapes of the film are almost an separate character. The sparse, but stunning, appearance of the setting, does something to balance out the gruesomeness of the story. Also Franco creates a very likable, and carefree character that you really have to root for. If any one character can be said to carry a whole film, I think you have to say that Franco carries this one, so he might get nominated for an Oscar.

Danny Boyle, who directed last year's Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, might also get nominated again for this picture. He uses a lot of split screen and fast cut, odd angle editing to create the tension of the film. It may be that this is a little too out of the mainstream for the Oscars, but we will have to wait and see.



About a month ago I saw Howl. In this film, Franco plays Allen Ginsberg. The film goes back and forth between scenes that recreate an early taped interview by Ginsberg, narrative scenes that include other Beat characters, like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, and a recreation of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's obscenity trial for publishing Ginsberg's poem "Howl".

This film is not as good as 127 Hours, but it is an interesting look at Ginsberg, and American society in the 1950's. The cutting back and forth between the different scenes of the film does not get to confusing, and at 90 minutes I think it is the right length to deal with what is being covered. If it had been much, longer I think the jumping back and forth would have become overwhelming.

Albert Maysles Interview

An interview with one of the great documentary film makers, Albert Maysles. With his brother David, he directed early films about the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, as well as the cult classic Gray Gardens. In this interview Maysles discusses how he got started in film making, and his attitude toward the subjects of his films.

The Lives of Others

I have finished rewatching the German film The Lives of Others. Rewatching it confirms for me what a good film it is. The film is set in East Germany in 1984, and revolves around a Stasi agent who is wiretapping a writer, and how the agent is slowly changed by the experience. It sound very depressing, but the film is so well made that it is a pleasure to watch.

I see that the writer/director of the film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is now working on a film with a script by Julian Fellows. I am anxious to see that.

[Note added 8/13/11: The film referred to in the paragraph above turns out to have been The Tourist, with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. The film was released last December, but I have not seen it yet.]

Here is a clip from the film.

Norman Rockwell and the Movies

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has a new exhibit titled Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The Washington Post has a video of Lucas and Spielberg discussing Rockwell and his influence on their movies. Spielberg also refutes the charge that Rockwell's art was grossly sentimental.

Spielberg, Lucas speak about their passion for Norman Rockwell