Movie Review: “The Tree of Life”
31.12.69
Starts with the portrait of the typical American family. Brad Pitt plays the hard-working father who is looking for a quick way to make tons of money with his patents. Pitt gives his best performance to date as the father who pushes his children, family and himself to the emotional limits with his constant nagging and advice.
Sean Penn plays Brad Pitt’s son. Penn himself even complained about the lack of screen time. He’s seen in a few shots here and there, but otherwise the film is Pitt’s. Penn is in this film to show a middle-aged man coping with the same things his father dealt with â that lack of success, the unknowing, the constant questioning in the face of the ongoing, daily life.
The family loses one of its members in the war, so it seems. Malick doesn’t concentrate too much on what happened. No, Malick’s purpose here is to define how strained the relationship between father and son is, and how that has affected the son in his latter days.
Source: The Daily Advertiser (blog)