942 The Tree of Life

[eerik]

WTF. Preliminary Estonian release date is 9th December. December??? Oh, well... a few months ago it didn't even have a local distributor. 8-[

[criterionsnob]

French Blu-ray already announced for July 15th!

[Fierias]

Anyone know if there is a precedent of EuropaCorp forcing French subs on their English-language blu-rays?

[eerik]

I doubt that's the real release date.

[Nothing]

It's up for pre-order on Amazon.fr!

France does usually observe long release windows, 6m+ isn't unusual. However... I'm wondering if the length of time it has taken to deliver the film has somehow impacted on the terms of some of the pre-sale contracts in Europe. This may explain both this release and the Icon / May 4th debacle. Of course, if the release date for the bluray does hold, it is unlikely to be the longer cut of the film, so we'll be double-dipping before long...

[Camera Obscura]

532 posts for un unreleased film. That must be a record.

[domino harvey]

Possibly. I knew we talked about Inglorious Basterds a lot before it came out, but I just checked and we only got to seventeen pages before the film was out

[Mr Sausage]

Well, this thread is nearly five years old.

[Roger Ryan]

A quick, somewhat speculative history of the film.

[eerik]

Entertainment Weekly exclusive clip

[Roger Ryan]

Entertainment Weekly exclusive clip

That clip features some pretty odd editing choices. Jump cuts are one thing, but this seems to revel in disorientating the viewer. Equally disconcerting is the moment where the child gleefully stares into the camera for a moment while holding the lizard. I suspect the camera is meant to be a temporary subjective viewpoint of the mother, but the idea is dropped so quickly it barely has time to register. I gather that the motivation for the free-for-all is the father going away on business. One wonders how much of the film is as frenetically-paced.

[Nothing]

Ouch, that jump cut hurts!

The more I see of this, the less sure I am that I'm going to like it, although it'll probably grow on me with further viewing...

[JamesF]

The guy behind the great All Things Shining blog mysteriously throws in the towel:

Celebrity worship rots the soul. Go find yourselves instead.

[DDillaman]

Ouch, that jump cut hurts!

I assume you mean that first one? Yeah - it's absurdly confrontational, and I don't recall anything similar in Malick's previous films. I'll be really curious to see if he uses that as a consistent device throughout the film, and if it works better in context, but like you, I find myself dialing down my expectations.

[Nothing]

Makes me think they should've pushed to release the longer cut a year ago, certainly But beyond that... I dunno. Cute American kids and their earth mother prancing joyously in front of a steadicam in soft lighting to ethereal piano music... It's all a little bit too obvious, a little too middlebrow for my liking - although I have no doubt the wider canvas of the film will be far more interesting, what with the life and death of the universe and so forth. Should be right up De Niro's alley, anyhow.

[Peter-H]

I though the scene was beautiful. I'm sure that jump cut has a purpose. Malick wouldn't have it if it didn't. A bunch of cynics up in here.

[Chance Hale]

I guess you-all would have preferred a 30 second close up of the lizard in the bathtub set to broad narration about the universe?

But seriously, I don't get how you can so quickly say you've lowered your expectation due to a short, out of context clip posted on EW. I think Malik deserves a little more trust then that. He no doubt has a reason to direct the scene in such a way. If nothing else, it shows that hes trying new things with this film.

[matrixschmatrix]

On the other hand, if your expectations are so high that half a minute you don't like means the movie can't possibly live up to them, they could probably stand to be lowered.

[Peter-H]

New clip with Brad Pitt's character (the dad) in it.

[Nothing]

French BD has been pushed back to September.

[Roger Ryan]

New clip with Brad Pitt's character (the dad) in it.

A little less frenetic editing than the first clip posted, but still features a couple of time jumps. I wonder if all the scenes taking place in Penn's childhood will have this elliptical feel while the scenes taking place in the present will be more formally structured?

[peerpee]

Wikipedia says Icon have lost it for the UK.

[Nothing]

Film has been an important aspect... we saw nothing in the digital world that resembled or came close to the latitude of film.

Nice slap down of the Red One fanboys

[peerpee]

Not really -- he said "As we prepped this film a few years ago, we saw nothing in the digital world that resembled or came close to the latitude of film."

The film was announced in 2005 and pre-production apparently began Jan 2006. The Red One was only released in 2007.

[Nothing]

There was a lot of excitable internet buzz about Malick and Chivo testing a Red One prototype for The Tree of Life.

Latest reports suggest they've used the RED M-X to shoot some of The Burial - but I'm predicting these will prove to be wildly overstated, if not also entirely false.