The Tree of Life (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Ambitious Malick masterpiece that tackles the mysteries of life, meaning and existence. I can think of no other movie that does such a good job of conveying the scale of creation/existence that most of us struggle to even glimpse. Beautiful to watch, feel, experience and reflect upon. Visually sumptuous and deserving of a large, high quality screen. Demands a lot from its audience and offers a lot in return. Deserves repeated watching. The dad, mother and oldest son are superbly acted. Loved that much of it were set in the 50s and 60s, a bygone era. One of my favorite Pitt performances. Hard not to empathize with his character, a father shaped and trapped by the societal conventions expected of fathers in that era to suppress emotions and be tough. The Criterion version is well-worth if for any fan. The extended version has more dialogue and more time spent on the characters. Both versions are great. I watched with subtitles because I didn't want to miss a word. Doesn't necessarily answer any of its profound questions, but the asking alone is profound. "Who are we to you?" Probably 99% of the audience has not thought as deeply on these questions as Malick, so its well worthwhile to behold his take expressed in the form of an exquisitely crafted epic movie.

First off, "The Tree of Life" is my favorite movie. I saw it at the theater. I bought the Blu-ray the moment it came out. I had to scrimp a little to get the Criterion Collection edition for the extended cut.I wish that I had not spent the money.When Terrence Malick finished the definitive cut of the greatest film to date, he had left over a great deal of fantastically beautiful footage, film that cinematographers dream of taking, gorgeous shots that simply did not make the cut. With the sheer volume of it he had, it is natural that he wanted to offer a second cut to present some of that glorious footage.That being said, having seen the extended cut, I can say that it in no way, shape or form enhanced my enjoyment of "The Tree of Life". Indeed, it was boring to watch. The cuts Malick had initially made were wise ones. While I can understand his sadness and regret for allowing some of that gorgeous footage to hit the cutting-room floor, much of what was woven back into the film simply should not have been woven back into the film.Also, the packaging opens in a rather odd way and confused me at first.The original Blu-ray is entirely sufficient.

I just finnished seeing the new 3hr8min tree of life bluray from criterion and was very happy about it but would like to know from others is the added material all just scenes of the family scenes or are there new lanscapes,Creation space stuff or more of the afterlife scene with Sean Penn?([email protected])Harris Flug.For those who can give me this info I can give you music which like the film frame of the musical camera to make everything more the infinity of nature than really seeing nature in real life(since our eyes do not product these oblong perverse angles that changes even cities into shards of nature and a painting).Even though maybe I only get this from the movie because I,m already an unconditioned person I think this film (the way its filmed)shows us the things called "abtract"that contain the"essence of being"which means the normal world discussed by conditioned robots of normalicy taking up nearly 100% of Culture and the emporers cloths of normalicy and like the way this film views nature as in David lynch red room its blows away normal robot conditioned perception .And terry since I represent the real reality outside the false world of the conditioned robots of normalicy we must make a film to deprogram the unreal people to become themselves and not be the real self prevention most normal people are-Harris Flug [email protected]

I first watched the Theatrical Release and I was often confused by the lack of cause and effect. There was the missing rule of the universe that there must be a cause for every action regardless if it were rational or not. So, I found the movie disconcerting when the character played by Brad Pitt so frequently acted so strangely with his eldest son, as I could not fathom his motivation.However, I then watched the Extended Release and the scenes that were deleted from the Theatrical Release were the missing links to the puzzling actions of the father, played by Brad Pitt, which made the movie much more satisfying. And there were many more scenes with the mother/wife, Jessica Chastain.Chastain’s and Pitt’s characters were polar opposites in their humanity. She was almost angelic, while Pitt wrested with earthly demons, where he was portrayed as nearly dreadful character. One can see the two as performing a most amazing dance of good versus evil, or possibly viewing their relationship as so conflicted that they never exist in the same universe.But if you have the choice, I would recommend not spending your time with the Theatrical Release, but rather watching the Extended Release.

This set is great and so is the transfer and sound. Just as you'd expect from the criterion catalogue. The film is moving and intimate. Even down to the camera work which sort of floats around the action and often comes in for close-up shots that are intensely close to the point of intrusive. The story is fractured and non-linear, like memories that drift in and out of your mind. There is not much for plot or anything, it's more of a meditation on life, relationships and how they mold us into the people we become. Besides the film being shot in a more non traditional way, the themes and events are impossible not to relate to. As a human being born on planet earth, this film resonated with me. Mr. Malick, i am a fan and thank you for this.