What’s so amusingly “despicable” about my having tweeted last week that I was glad I’d seen Terrence Malick‘s The Tree Of Life but that I’m “not sure if I’ll buy/get the Bluray,” as New York‘s latest “Approval Matrix” chart has it?
I was merely saying I wasn’t sure if Tree, which seemed to meander and even get a bit doodly after the first levitational 40 minutes or so, would stand up to repeat viewings.
Yes, others wrote that it almost certainly would stand up and that they looked forward to subsequent viewings, but I wasn’t sure. I was thinking at the time, rightly or wrongly, that I’d more or less gotten it all in one sit and that a second viewing probably wouldn’t turn my head and open up my pores like the first one had. Primarily because much of the second half focuses on the dysfunctional rage and gloom brought about by Brad Pitt‘s hardhead, disciplinarian, spottily-affectionate dad.
I grew up with a functional-alcoholic version of this guy, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend repeated sessions with him at home. It was that simple.
On top of which there’s a reason why movies and plays have depended upon a narrative through-line to engage and hold the audience’s attention. I’m just average common too. I’m just like him and the same as you. So due respect to the Approval Matrix guy, but I don’t care how many years Malick worked on The Tree of Life. That’s his deal, not mine.