The Tree of Life

So, if you follow me on Twitter you will know that we are in Edinburgh/Glasgow/Brechin this weekend seeing friends and fam and having a couple of days in the library. It's been a fun time of late nights and plenty of chat so far. Off for a special lunch out in a while at an old haunt: the Open Arms at Dirleton.

On Thursday night we arrived back from Brechin pretty late and went straight to the Cameo to watch Terence Malik's 'The Tree of Life'. Now, due to Lincoln's one cinema situation and distinct lack of independent movie houses (there is a definite business there for anyone who fancies) this film is not showing within a 50m radius. But here in the cultural hotbed that is Edinburgh there are plenty of choices. D was delighted to have the chance to see this film as he really likes Malik. He has dragged me to a number of his films over the years and I've really enjoyed them all.

So, what of 'The Tree of Life'? Well, it is a very weird film and I can understand why it divided the Cannes audience so much. On the one hand it is a film about a family in the 60's, on the other it is about the whole of the universe from start to finish. Hmm... Oh and there are dinosaurs! But what to make of this intriguing film? Well, as you might expect, D and I talked about it for ages and decided that actually there were probably as many reactions as there were people in the cinema. It has a fascinating and poignant Biblical side which meant a great deal to D and I, of course, but might leave an atheist unmoved (in fact I would be really interested to know what you made of it if this is you)and there were some amazing performances especially from the children. The cinematography was incredible, truly breath-taking. It was very long and felt very long, though I wasn't bored. The film contained a strange, unusual moving tempo; sometimes there was super quick cutting and at other times slow scans of the horizon. I enjoyed it very much though, be warned, pretentious hippy nonsense is ones of my favourite genres! Especially if it starts with the book of Job, one of the Bible's more confusing, challenging and, interestingly given the pacing of the film, long-winded books of the Bible.

Anyways, would be intrigued if anyone has seen it.

I'm off to drink first cup of tea of the day. I know it's late for a first one, huh? And to watch the golf. I become an Open junkie at this time of year.

CSW