Tree of Life, the new film by Terrence Malick, won the Palme D'Or at Cannes last month. I suspect I won't like the movie, as I hear it is hard to track, and doesn't have much of a plot. I guess there are dinosaurs in it. In order to extend my annoyance with movies that expend time without moving forward, I rented Malick's first big film, Days of Heaven.
Richard Gere plays Bill, a hot-headed factory worker living in poverty in Chicago at the turn of the last century with his girlfriend, Abby, and his little sister. To run away from trouble and to earn money, the three head to the Texas Panhandle for the wheat harvest. The rich farmer for whom they are working (Sam Shepard) falls in love with Abby. Abby and Bill have been posing as brother and sister, and Bill encourages Abby to secure their future by marrying the farmer. You can figure out where this is going. The marriage happens. Things fall apart.
This is not a new or original story, but the movie isn't about the plot so much anyway. There is not a lot of dialog; instead the little sister is the narrator. The movie seemed to me to be more of a string of gorgeous images of wheat fields, sunrises, sunsets, the wind through the wheat, the wind rippling water, etc. Not much dialog or story, but lots of pretty pictures. I find it boring but lovely.
A friend and her husband just saw Tree of Life. They said it was really boring. They sat in the back and surfed the internet on their phones.
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