REPEATED VIEWINGS AWAIT...

This Friday, The Tree of Life opens in my area.  I'm beyond excited.  After making the trip to NYC two weekends ago, it's been damn near impossible to stop thinking about the film and all of its themes and ideas.  I firmly believe it to be one of the greatest filmed accomplishments ever created, a work that could only have been created by a master, a true piece of art that will forever be open to interpretation.  I will be discussing aspects of the movie in random bursts over the next month (as the viewings accumulate...) and I will always warn of any potential spoilers.  The Tree of Life is as singular a film as I've ever seen, up there in terms of overall privacy with The Fall, The Fountain, Enter the Void, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Like those other titles, The Tree of Life is an auteur-driven piece of filmmaking, a movie created by an artist who isn't interested in satisfying the conventional demands of Hollywood storytelling and franchise building.  It will likely turn off and frustrate many, many viewers.  But those who go into it with an open mind will likely be rewarded over and over again.  It's the rare movie that stands as almost a completely subjective experience; no two interpretations of the film are "wrong," or necessarily "right."  Malick shatters all regularly accepted notions of what "going to the movies" is all about; this is a work that transcends the medium, a film that goes above and beyond, and in the end, shows us a new way of presenting filmed entertainment.  I'm dying to encounter the film on multiple occasions.  Let the games begin...!