DVD REVIEW
Indulging a personal vision
With its themes of cosmology and family life, Terrence Malick's latest film is almost ridiculously ambitious
Like almost all of Terrence Malick's earlier films, The Tree of Life, the latest, most personal, and most extreme of them, has divided critics and audiences. One of the most frequent charges made against it by its detractors has been that it is "self-indulgent".
The Tree of Life (US, 2011, colour, 139 min.)
Directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Epler, Tye Sheridan and Fiona Shaw. In English with option subtitles in various European languages, depending on edition. The US edition includes three discs, a Region A Blu-ray, a Region 1 DVD, and a digital copy for uploading into a portable device.
Guilty as charged, but isn't self-indulgence really a prerequisite for art? What would Dante (Beatrice as the Queen of Heaven!), Sterne, Beethoven, Wagner, Joyce, Schoenberg, Proust, Kafka, Bergman or just about any other great artistic creator have given us if they hadn't been deeply self-indulgent? Time spent with the work of any artist unwilling to indulge a personal vision to the full is time wasted.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
About the author
- Writer: Ung-Aang Talay
- Position: Reporter
