The Tree of Life, The Pale King and Enter The Void

Some of you (who, actually?) might wonder what I think about Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and DFW's The Pale King, because I fell pretty silent after having watched and read those works.

Well, the reason is that both of em pretty much leave me speechless. There is not much to say about The Tree of Life other than: Go watch it. Wherever and whenever you get the chance to see that movie on a big screen, do it! This is a cinematic experience that you will rarely encounter in your life. If you plan to see it but don't feel the urge to do so in a movie theater: Don't. By which I mean, rather never see it in your whole life than not on the big screen. You would not want that. You will want to avoid your emotions of regret and loss for having avoided it in the theater. A couple of weeks ago I strained an ankle because I tried to get the best possible seats for a one-time screening of Kubrick's 2001 in a local theater. The pain kept me from being able to watch the darn thing. But nevertheless, 2001 on the big screen is exactly the thing you want to be willing to strain an ankle for. So is The Tree of Life. (As well as Gaspar Noé's radically visionary Enter The Void, of which you can see the trailer here, the opening credits here and the first 10 minutes here, just to make you want to watch it on the BIG SCREEN. This is a physical experience that "essentially flips the brain-off switch for you"). I've seen The Tree of Life two times already and will do so a third time next week. Anyone with an interest in cinema will want to see this visual masterpiece. Again, on the big screen. It does not work in any other way. It makes no sense at all to watch it any other way.

Regarding The Pale King: I do not dare put my words to anything, really, that DFW put on page but, again, read it (this time not on screen though, not even a big one, whether it is standard Kindle, IPad or 24" wide-screen sized, but on page in a published book). His writing and ideas are far from boring. It is true, yes, that The Pale King is unfinished, and you will notice it when you arrive at the last pages, especially at the appended notes and asides found with Wallace's manuscript. From the feel of it, with its about 560 published pages, about the same amount is missing. But what is actually there between the covers, is still among the best literary achievements you will be able to find by any living (or dead) American writer.

Cannes Update - The Tree of Life - Melancholia

Despite the bad critics and some booing from... blablabla. The Tree of Life went on to win Cannes' Palm d'Or. This is then Malick's second win at Cannes after 1979s Best Director award for Days of Heaven, which also won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, that is, the cinematographer did, Néstor Almendros. June 16, keep in mind.

After Lars Von Trier was declared persona non grata in Cannes for committing the crime of babbling about Hitler and Speer and the bunker and his joking about being a Nazi in this press conference, Kirsten Dunst nevertheless went on to win the award for Best Actress for von Trier's Melancholia, which will succeed The Tree of Life, after June 16, as the film I'm anticipating most. What Bret Easton Ellis has to say about the whole thing:

Kirsten Dunst looked a lot sadder when I ran out of coke at an Oscar party 5 years ago than at the Von Trier press conference at Cannes...

Terrence Malick - The Tree Of Life Countdown

Despite the bad critics and some booing from the Cannes premiere crowd two days ago this is the film I anticipate the most right now. It might also be the answer to all of Conor's questions asked two posts ago. This is also supposed to be the film why Malick disappeared for 20 years between Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, not being able to pull off this major achievement then. Another 13 years and The New World have passed, making it the Son of God's lifetime for this movie to be in production. Since you can't enlarge (or I don't seem to be able to enable that function) the YouTube window from here, click on it again after you hit the play button to get to the YouTube site to, because that's what this sentence is all about, enlarge the trailer to full size. You don't want to have it otherwise, trust me. Or just click on this link to get there directly. Just found another clip here.

5 films in 40 years and every one considered a masterpiece. Interesting enough that imdb lists yet another Malick film as being in post-production already. Spotting Ben Affleck in the cast, I really don't know what to think of that. Wikipedia lists it as The Burial and I do nothing but hope that Malick doesn't bury his talents and integrity for good with this one. In the meantime (The Tree of Life opens June 16 in Germany) I'm watching Malick's acknowledged masterpieces in chronological order. And you definitely should do that, too.

• Badlands, 1973
• Days of Heaven, 1978
• The Thin Red Line, 1998
• The New World, 2005

The German DVD of at least Badlands has shitty picture quality. Really shitty, that is. You should try to get hands on some HD and Criterion Collection editions of these films.