Palme d'Or 2011 at Cannes

Tree of Life has received some extremely polarizing reviews. Some have hailed it as a masterpiece while others booed it. As of this writing, it is floating somewhere in the 90% range on Rotten Tomatoes.  The site's consensus seems to be that "Terrence Malick's singularly deliberate style may prove unrewarding for some, but for patient viewers, Tree of Life is an emotional as well as visual treat."

This is the theatrical release poster for Tree of Life

It did receive the prestigious Palme d'Or this year which (as you may already know) is the highest honor given to a single film that makes its premiere at Cannes.

Here is what some of the critics have to say about it:

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it a perfect five stars and states it is an "unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss" and a "mad and magnificent film.^"

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter states "Brandishing an ambition it’s likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfill, The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind’s place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amidst its narrative imprecisions."

Justin Chang of Variety states the film "represents something extraordinary" and "is in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work, a transfixing odyssey through time and memory that melds a young boy's 1950s upbringing with a magisterial rumination on the Earth's origins."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone states "Shot with a poet's eye, Malick's film is a groundbreaker, a personal vision that dares to reach for the stars."

 Some facts about the film:

1. Filming began in the great state of Texas. Locations include Smithville, Houston, Matagorda, Austin, and Malick's hometown of Waco.
2. The namesake of the film is a large live oak that was excavated a few miles outside Smithville. The tree weighed 65,000 pounds with root ball and was replanted.
3. In a March 2011 interview, the visual effects supervisor, Dan Glass, stated that the film would feature microbial and astronomical imagery, along with dinosaurs. He summarized the film as "a very powerful movie about memories, emotions, and our place in the world."

I really want to see this film. It premieres here in Salt Lake City on June 17th, 2011 (I've marked my calendar). I predict that the film will resonate strongly with me as my personal outlook on the universe has also left me wondering if the lives that we live have any meaning at all.