Comments on: “The Tree of Life” #8 – Text and Images from Viewing July 7, 2011

By: Christopher Page

Christopher Page — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:51:45 +0000

thank you. your piece is beautiful. I hope to post your conclusion and some reflections of my own that you stimulated.

By: Damon Linker

Damon Linker — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:51:06 +0000

I’m delighted to have discovered this transcript of Tree of Life. I just published an essay on this and To the Wonder. I did something similar for the latter film in preparing to write. This post will be very useful for anything else I might do on Malick. Here’s my column, if you’re interested: http://theweek.com/article/index/243353/terrence-malicks-moving-christian-message-mdash-and-film-critics-failure-to-engage-with-it

By: #1000 | In A Spacious Place

#1000 | In A Spacious Place — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:11:54 +0000

[...] “The Tree of Life” #8 – Text and Images from Viewing July 7, 2011 [...]

By: Matt A.

Matt A. — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:38:08 +0000

I’ve seen this film three times now. It gets better everytime I see it. I think it is absolutely brillant on so many levels. I did not realize until the second time I saw it how restrained the use of dialogue is. Absolutely amazing that all the dialogue can fit in this short blog post and yet the film can have such a powerful message and so many layers of meaning.

By: A Review Of The Tree of Life — The Trials of Job and the Grace of Mary « Nepal – the country of the Mt. Everest and the Buddha

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:17:01 +0000

[...] the spiritual side of the movie is encapsulated by a short voice-over. The speaker is the mother in the film, who is unnamed except as Mrs. O’Brien. Her son Jack [...]

By: Deepak Chopra: A Review Of The Tree Of Life — The Trials Of Job And The Grace Of Mary | Lastfalling

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:16:50 +0000

[...] the spiritual side of the movie is encapsulated by a short voice-over. The speaker is the mother in the film, who is unnamed except as Mrs. O’Brien. Her son Jack is [...]

By: Binx Bolling

Binx Bolling — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:24:24 +0000

Pardon me, I meant to say 26 seconds into the trailer, not 2 minutes and 13 seconds.

This post, “Text and Images,” tallies four appearances of the Lumia. Are there more? Could this be one, or a variation of it?

By: Binx Bolling

Binx Bolling — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:55:55 +0000

The shot of the shimmering light and shadows on the bedroom wall clocks 2 minutes and 13 seconds into the trailer:

If anyone can identify whether or not this image is in any way connected to the Lumia sculpture, I would love to entertain their notions.

By: Christopher Page

Christopher Page — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:32:15 +0000

I agree with you absolutely. You have made a great observation. The ethereal light that appears throughout Malick’s film is a device to evoke the ineffable presence that for Malick stalks all of life. His goal in the film is to open our eyes to that reality that so often seems to be hidden. He is calling us to embrace the mystery that sustains existence and gives depth to all reality. Part of the beauty of this film is that Malick asserts that this reality is present in the most mundane places…. like an ordinary bedroom in an ordinary home on an ordinary street… thanks for the reflection.

By: Binx Bolling

Binx Bolling — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:54:24 +0000

Kudos to you, you have done a yeoman’s job cataloging The Tree of Life’s images, dialogue, and their interplay. Looking your labor, you may be able to answer a question for me. What is the shimmering light in the bedroom? The scene I am speaking of is present in the film’s trailer. Initially I believed it to be the “ethereal image from opening,” but after revisiting the image I am rethinking my assessment. The New York Times reviewer said, “…a boy, in whispered voice-over, speaks directly to God, whose responses are characteristically oblique, conveyed by the rustling of wind in trees or the play of shadows on a bedroom wall.” These shadows on the wall then would be different from the “ethereal image from opening”? It was reported in The New Yorker that the “ethereal image” is in fact a Thomas Wilfred light sculpture used by Malick “to capture something about creation,” so I was trying to count how many times it found its way into the narrative. Do you think the light on the bedroom wall could be this light sculpture, as I first thought?