Thank you, Craig. You have indeed given us the essence of this wonderful film. I will need to revisit it soon, since I have a copy at home. It is an amazing film just to view! Worrying yourself about any possible plot is quite secondary; and this is what made it frustrating for so many. Usually a film this audacious doesn't get so much critical acclaim which in turn drives more folks to the theater. I remember when all this was going on. I have an excellent essay printed out at home about the film and its relation to God. If I can get myself to remember I will scan for the group. Great review, great movie, to be watched and enjoyed over and over again!

Well done, Craig.

Upon my first viewing of ToL it sprang immediately into my shortlist of all time favorite films. But from another angle it stands absolutely alone, for many of the reasons you mention, and ultimately for its resulting utter uniqueness as a spiritual work. It's like Gorecki's 3rd symphony -- one of my favorite symphonies, yes, but also something immeasurably more.

"My wife and I were literally speechless afterward."

That was exactly my experience as well.

Week 11. This is going fast. Speaking of which, I need some people to volunteer for April and May.

AMDG

I do think it's God's answer, but that doesn't mean it isn't also the other. Frequently when I'm writing, I will just realize that something I've just written dovetails perfectly with something I've written a paragraph back. I love it when I see that in other things.

AMDG

You definitely should. In my opinion Craig hasn't over-praised it. I don't know of anything like it. But more than most movies it will really shine with high-quality video and audio. If I remember correctly there is a fair amount of very good classical music in it...maybe only in the opening creation-evolution sequence?

"For instance, there's a macrocosm / microcosm contrast at play, where setting the humble story of this family against the vastness of cosmic space and time, yet still obviously investing this domestic story with great significance..."

If I remember correctly the creation sequence comes to a close with Mr. O'Brien looking at his newborn's tiny foot in wonder. I think one could read that sequence as a poetic dramatization of the idea that in a sense all of creation has been directed, as it were, to conclude in the creation of that foot, i.e., the child.

Thus from the foundation of the world, that child, and thus every child, is known and ordained. In a very real sense God has done all this "for me."

I once heard Fr. Tom Hopko say that from a certain angle the entire history of Old Covenant Israel had as its point the birth of the Theotokos. Everything that happened under the Old Covenant was mystically "funneled" towards the fulfillment of that event, the reality of a young woman who would say 'yes' to God. I guess I see the sequence in ToL as sort of the same thing with regards to the uniqueness of every human being.

In his retirement he served as priest at a monastery not far from me, and he would show up at our parish every once in awhile and concelebrate the Liturgy with our priest. He was very learned, but wore his learning rather lightly, which is something I always appreciated about him.

Yeah, it opened in the States on March 4, but hasn't made its way to Pittsburgh yet. When we get it it will probably be only for a week, maybe two, and on one screen.

Our local theatre chain says it's coming here April 1, but doesn't say where. I'm glad you mentioned it so I won't miss it.

AMDG

Oops, I'm sorry, it looks like you have to be a subscriber to read all of this. I have it photocopied from Commonweal at home and was just looking for an easier way to share. Drat!

Thanks for those essays, Stu! I've read a lot of reviews and essays about the film, but I haven't seen those ones yet.

This blog and its commenters are a godsend. How else would I ever have heard of Father Hopko and then found his 55 Maxims of the Christian Life? Wish I'd been consulting them daily for the last half century or so.

I'm pretty sure that Mary sent me a book by Fr. Hopko when we first met online however many years ago that was.

AMDG

I haven't tried registering at Commonweal yet, but even without registering you can read the first of those three essays (and it's a good one).

I've put a couple of Fr Hopko's podcasts on my phone and am looking forward to listening to them.

I saw this quote from a First Things article on Facebook: Critics are wrong to suggest that Terence Malick is wandering into abstraction with 'Tree of Life' and 'Knight of Cups.' In fact, "these are films with a point: Man must be willing to commit to love and open himself to new life. More specifically, he must cleave to a woman and be ready to have a child."

Now I can't wait for April 1.

AMDG

I seem to recall some discussion of that "heaven" vision, maybe here or maybe somewhere else, in which it was suggested that it isn't meant to be heaven, but either some sort of waystation or purgatory, or else a deep region of the soul or psyche where the elemental struggles play out. Both seem plausible to me.

About Texas, I don't recall how I knew, but I did know. If Texas wasn't explicitly mentioned, maybe it was one or more cities in Texas.

That's the sort of thing I had in mind with my second conjecture.

Came across this line this morning about Flannery O'Connor by Marion Montgomery: "She would insist that only when one has come to terms with death is he prepared to value the world..."

I think that someone like this may be going on at the end of ToL. Penn's character has been brought to the point where he comes to terms with the deaths in his life, and he "comes back" from that vision with a new ability to value the world. That, I'd say, is the meaning of the little smile he gives as he looks around the city in his last scene in the film.

And odd as it may sound, I think something similar is at work at the end of a lesser, more problematic film, American Beauty, although I can't say that either the writer or director consciously intended it so. When Lester chooses not to have sex with his daughter's underage friend, in a way he has confronted death, even if it is only the potential death of his own ideals. He walks to the kitchen, sits down, looks at a family photo and smiles. Having come to terms what might be considered his own spiritual death, he now is able to value his family and his life, i.e., "the world."

Of course, Malick's vision of this is much more overtly spiritual, nevermind more subtle and more accomplished in its handling, than Mendes' in AB. But perhaps the latter should be given a bit of credit for being in the right neighborhood, if not at the exact correct address.

(Of course I realize that there is other far more problematic material in AB, but I'm thinking here primarily of the ending.)

On Friday night i watched Terrence Malick's recent film Song to Song and found it very interesting. It's billed as a "romantic drama" set in the music scene of Austin, Texas, and while that's true at some level, I think that ultimately it's more than that.

Like Malick's other recent films the story is told mostly visually, with voiceovers and scanty dialogue, but in this one the narrative is stronger and less impressionistic. The viewer doesn't have to work so much to piece things together. For me, this made it easier to follow, but at the cost of some of the emotional depth of the previous couple films. YMMV. Lubezki shot it, so the cinematography is beautiful. It runs just a bit over two hours, and it probably could have been 15 minutes shorter, but that's a small complaint.

There's a lot of "eros" in the film, but only a small amount of nudity, and no actual "sex scenes." At times some of the eroticism seems a bit much, but in retrospect, given the way the plot goes and what seems to be the film's point, it makes sense, although to my mind some of it could have been toned down. As with To the Wonder, at times I found myself wondering it all was heading, and although the "turn" in Song to Song isn't quite as striking as the one in TTW, it's still sort of a small marvel. I would share what I think Malick's saying here, but I think it would be better not to bias a potential viewer in a certain direction, as I think the movie would lose some of its power.

Btw, there's a lot of music in the film, but other than some of the classical excerpts and the ambient stuff I didn't really care for much of it. Again, YMMV.

Speaking of movies, by the way: somebody here must have recommended to me a movie called The Fall, which floated to the top of my Netflix list a few weeks ago. It's an odd film, set in 1920s Los Angeles, involving a movie stuntman who's been partially paralyzed in a stunt gone wrong. He's hospitalized along with a young girl with a broken arm. He starts telling her a wild story, and when he's telling it the movie switches to it. It's quite good.

Really?!? Wow. Yes, it is very impressive visually.

I do think there are places where it falls apart a bit, but I love it that what she sees while listening to the story is so different and exciting than the story really is.

AMDG

No, I haven't. At first I thought it might be another movie I've seen, but then I remembered that was about aging opera singers. It has famous people in it, but I can't remember who. I wish I could. Maybe Maggie Smith.

AMDG

It was just called Quartet.

AMDG

I did, and I enjoyed it but it did not bowl me over or anything. I suppose I was expecting more, but it is quietly very nice and I would recommend it. There was something about it interesting and unexpected, which I will not give away.