The Tree of Life (winner of the Palme d'Or)

JP Liz V1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=29392



Poster released but still no trailer

abouttobebanned

Right so.

That's a nice poster.

Toto Wolfcastle

Pfft I've been to the tree of life and it looks nothing like that.

Sanjuro

The trailer for Terrence Malick's latest film, The Tree Of Life has been released. And it looks absolutely beautiful-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlYYreuK8vo

There's a real Fountain-y vibe off the trailer, which, for me, is a really good thing. Proper Oscar-bait too. And hopefully another excellent Brad Pitt performance, which are rare but really good when they do pop up. Malick's one of the greatest living directors, so I'll be looking out for this one when it hits cinemas.

Bullseye1

No one makes more beautiful films to look at than TM. I will certainly see this at the cinema if its listed.

Wow.

That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing, I had not known about this previously.

JP Liz V1

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlYYreuK8vo

FreeOSCAR

Looks very decent, put that on my watchlist.

Skerries

what's the general plot?

Sad Professor

Skerries wrote: »

what's the general plot?

It's Malick. He doesn't do plot - at all. But the story involves two brothers, loss of innocence, love, hope, beauty, the meaning of life, etc. No one really knows yet, but it will look nice.

I'm really looking forward to it though. Malick is always a must-see.

johnny_ultimate

It looks purty.

paddyismaddy

malick + pitt + penn should be great

AnonoBoy

Looks like one to definitely see on the big screen.

His stuff always looks amazing.

Sad Professor

New poster. If you look very close you can see a dinosaur.

JP Liz V1

Sad Professor wrote: »

New poster. If you look very close you can see a dinosaur.

I prefered the other poster

Sad Professor

Which one? Of the tree or of the baby's foot?

What I don't like about this new one is that it appears all the shots are lifted from the trailer. However, the tree poster looks like some nasty photoshop job that has nothing to do with the film.

JP Liz V1

Sad Professor wrote: »

Which one? Of the tree or of the baby's foot?

What I don't like about this new one is that it appears all the shots are lifted from the trailer. However, the tree poster looks like some nasty photoshop job that has nothing to do with the film.

Tree one

Sad Professor

http://www.twowaysthroughlife.com/

Cool interactive website for this film is now live.

Sad Professor

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/screenwriter/2011/03/29/another-tree-of-life-bombshell/

It's looking like this film may not get released over here. The film is apparently very uncommercial and its UK distributor is trying to ditch it.

I think I'll cry if I don't get to see this in the cinema.

TheManWho

Did we read the same article?, that link just said that the irish and uk distributors are planning to show the film ahead of time, and the us distributor wants to wait until after cannes. I got no hint of it being uncommercial or the uk distributor wanting to ditch it, quite the opposite actually

Sad Professor

Sorry, I didn't read that article properly. I thought it contained a short summary of what's known to date but it doesn't. The following two links give a fuller picture:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/what_in_the_name_of_jessica_chastain_is_going_on_with_the_tree_of_life_and_/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/another_twist_in_the_tree_of_life_u.k._release_saga_as_legal_battle_kicks_o/

Basically when the UK distributor acquired the film they agreed to pay back the film's financiers regardless of how well it did. Then a couple of weeks ago they announced the UK release date was going to be BEFORE the world premiere at Cannes. By doing this they were screwing the US and European distributors who will lose publicity etc if it happens.

The speculation is that the UK distributor did this intentionally in order to default on their agreement, therefore losing their rights to release it. In other words, they saw the film, panicked, and decided to force a lawsuit which will allow them to drop it altogether. That lawsuit is now pending.

The Irish distributor that Clarke mentions in his blog only distributes on behalf of the UK one, so if the UK doesn't get it neither will we. And it could be quite some time before another distributor picks it up. The film will have been unveiled in Cannes by then, and if it is as uncommercial as has been rumoured, it may not get released theatrically in the UK/Ireland at all.

Unless the producers work something out with the UK distributor it isn't looking good.

TheManWho

The ironic thing is that after all the publicity this controversy will cause, the film probably will be quite commercial.

Sad Professor

For a film that is supposed to be out in 4 days, things aren't looking good. The BBFC still hasn't received the film so they can classify it. Here's the latest from Variety:

Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" has become caught up in a legal dispute over its U.K. distribution, just before the film's long-awaited premiere in Cannes.
Distrib Icon originally scheduled a May 4 bow. But it has canceled that plan in a dispute over distribution. Producers River Road Entertainment and Icon U.K. confirmed they are in arbitration, but neither would comment further on the case.

A London screening last summer of an early cut met with a negative reaction from Icon. Sales company Summit and River Road subsequently decided to launch "Tree" at Cannes in 2011.

Sources say under the original contract, Icon was only obliged to distribute the film if it was ready for U.K. release by May 4. But with Summit holding the film back for a world premiere in Cannes, Icon is arguing that its deal no longer holds.

If Icon ends its "Tree" deal, the most likely candidates to take over U.K. distribution are eOne, which has an output deal for Summit's own productions, and Optimum Releasing, which is distributing Malick's next untitled film.

In the meantime, according to Blu-ray.com a French distributor is claiming that are going to release the film on Blu-ray on July 15th. Seems to be a mistake.

bnt

The Tree Of Life has been shown at Cannes to mixed reviews, but Roger Ebert likes it. It sounds completely overblown, preposterous, ambitious, pretentious, indisciplined, as mad as a box of frogs - in other words, just what I want from a big screen epic.

About the UK & Ireland distribution situation: according to movies.ie the film will be distributed in Ireland by Eclipse, but their website doesn't have anything on it yet.

Sad Professor

Eclipse distributes on behalf of Icon, who was supposed to be the UK distributor but as discussed above has pulled out. That means Eclipse is no longer distributing it here, either. So it may be some time before we get the film.

Sad Professor

Tree of Life has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037426

Richard Dower

Sad Professor wrote: »

Tree of Life has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037426

Meh...not enough teen angst (j/k)

don ramo

Sad Professor wrote: »

Tree of Life has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037426

whoops i think the distributers made a bubu:D:D

Mickeroo

Surely winning the Plame D'Or will at least earn it a limited release of some sort?

Sad Professor

Yeah, we should definitely get it now. It's just a question of when.

Sad Professor

And we have a release date!

The film's US distributor Fox Searchlight has stepped in and picked up the UK and Irish distribution rights. Irish release date is July 8th!

baconsarnie

Thank you- have been searching the web fruitlessly for weeks. I should have known boards would have the answer

Sad Professor

Oh and here's a video of Chris Nolan and David Fincher gushing about the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVUXDn6hCY4

A lot of rumours that Malick is planning on releasing a 6 hour version at some stage, it would focus a lot more on the kids. At the minute it seems very up in the air with the only source being a French magazine. Hopefully if it is true Malick will release the full cut and it won't end up like the constantly teased footage shot for The Thin Red Line.

Sad Professor

He's also supposed to be working on a documentary called Voyage of Time which would contain more of the beginning and end of the universe stuff from this film.

e_e

Any confirmations on which cinemas are playing it yet?

I reckon the IFI could run it for the whole month of July and still have many people attending.

bnt

IFI are definitely pushing it - big display in the main lobby. They show the biggest films for three week runs, usually. I might wait to see if they move it down to Cinema 2 or 3 after the first week or two - I prefer those to Cinema 1. It would be nice if they put in an intermission, but that's a rarity these days.

duckworth

It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a new film. I'm going to **** myself if it isn't out soon....

And it'd be a pity if it isn't shown on the bigger screens - it really looks like it should be viewed in Savoy 1.

johnny_ultimate

Given that this is an unusually busy summer for beyond generic blockbusters, we'll be lucky to get it in one of the smaller mainstream screens. IFI 1 is probably the biggest we can hope for. It is released smack bang in the middle of Transformers and Harry Potter.

bnt

The Screen on D'Olier St. (Dublin) are advertising it too. I haven't been there in year, but IIRC it's quite big ...

roguey

Raging! As far as I can tell from their website, my local cinema (Castlebar) isn't showing it!! I'm so looking to seeing this, I just assumed they would be showing it! Does anybody know where the closest venue showing it would be? Galway maybe?

e_e

http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/tree_of_life.png :rolleyes:

Sad Professor

The mainstream reaction to the film in the US has been fairly negative. There's been a lot of reports of walkouts and general rowdiness during screenings. It's sad that a cinema has to put a notice like that up to dissuade idiots from ruining the experience for everyone. I find it hard to believe that someone would go into a film like this not having at least some idea what to expect.

MagicMarker

Sad Professor wrote: »

The mainstream reaction to the film in the US has been fairly negative. There's been a lot of reports of walkouts and general rowdiness during screenings. It's sad that a cinema has to put a notice like that up to dissuade idiots from ruining the experience for everyone. I find it hard to believe that someone would go into a film like this not having at least some idea what to expect.

Brad Pitt is in it, that's the dude from Fight Club and Inglorious Basterds. People don't care what the film is about if he's in it, they'll go to it regardless and just expect a mainstream blockbuster. Heaven forbid they need to think about the movie while they're watching it.

Personally, it looks good, but TM is the same guy behind the truly atrocious ''The New World'', so I shall remain skeptical.

Sad Professor

Each to their own, but I thought the extended cut of The New World was excellent. The shorter theatrical cut seemed a bit disjointed though.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah it's rare I go into a film having no idea what it's about. Always considered minimal research a relative safeguard against unwelcome surprises.

But you can never overestimate a mainstream audience's tastes and intelligence. It's a damn shame but look at the films that tend to rake in money and it becomes clear people don't want to think or be challenged by cinema. There are enough that do, but a film like Tree of Life and any Narratively of stylistically inventive work from an auteur are going to be met with some confusion and hostility - often justified, but mostly not.

Goldstein

I assume they are going to begin displaying similar notices for the Scary/Data/Epic/Disaster/Vampire "parody" Movies

cinemamanagement wrote:

A warning to our valued patrons:
This movie is a lot of tripe and your attendance only perpetuates the production of similar cerebrally and comically defunct garbage. Enjoy the movie!

you idiot

bnt

e_e wrote: »

http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/tree_of_life.png :rolleyes:

Jim Emerson has more details on this on his Scanners blog, here. According to the cinema programmer, some customers had a very negative reaction:

There was a small but vocal minority of patrons who walked out of the film, but there were a few individuals who were fairly nasty and belligerent towards the management staff, demanding their money back. There have been a significant number of people who were fascinated by the film and there were plenty of individuals who have written to us to tell us that they thought the film was a masterpiece.

duckworth

I've no problem with people walking out of films. I've walked of plenty in my time.

Films I've seen multiple walk outs:
Senna (3 couples walked out after 20 minutes or so. I have no idea what they were expecting..)
There Will Be Blood
A Serious Man (And one person actually shouted 'Ah, **** off' at the ending)
I Love you Philip Morris

Films I've walked out of:
Edge of Darkness
The second or third Star Wars film (cant remember)
Indiana Jones 4
Smart People
Kidulthood
Cassandra's Dream

There is truly nothing as depressing as the feeling of walking out of the cinema, while everybody else is still in other screens enjoying themselves - and the bitter feeling of having your money just robbed from you staying all the way on the car journey home.

Phony Scott

Saw it last week. It's a polarising film alright, without a linear narrative. I'm reserving an overall critical opinion on the film until I see it again, but what I saw was not nessessarily difficult to follow, but it is heavy handed and rather clucky, but is well worth the asking price as a visual and audio experience. If you loved 2001: A Space Odyssey, you should see this immediately.

There was a few unintentional chuckles during one or two scenes, namely a moment involving

the extinction of the dinosaurs

and a scene where Brad Pitt's character

goes "I want you to hit me as hards as you can" Tyler Durden with his kids.

I think another viewing is in order this weekend.

duckworth

Anybody know if this is showing in Dublin tonight? Usually there are preview screenings on the Thursday aren't there?

The Screen says opening 7th July, but doesn't have the film listed until tomorrow..

Anybody know?