Like I mentioned in the full list of movies I saw in 2011 post, with Netflix I saw the # of movies (at least in part) skyrocket, and though I did my best to keep track of it. But in 2011 I saw less films in other years… due to overall more TV consumption (I caught up on a lot of CBC programming this sumer), and frankly, not interesting or good looking movies in the theatre. I’d say 2011 had way more better “entertaining” movies than most years (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was spectacular), and maybe less “great” films (“Martha Marcy May Marlene” was haunting and shocking and beautiful, “Bellflower” was a tour de force of no-budget auteur filmmaking and “Drive” was downright awesome and reminded me of all the awesome parts of “To Live and Die in LA“).
As an aside, I saw Martin Scorcese’s “Hugo” last night — which turned out to be the perfect movie to see at the close of 2011 — and I nearly put it as my favourite film of the year. Go see it as soon as you can, without knowing any more about it than you already do. It’s going to be all over the place once Oscar season gets into full swing, and by knowing about what the movie is “really” about might take away some of the magic I know I experienced going into it cold.
With that said, it was really easy to pick my favourite film of 2011: “The Tree of Life.” It’s a really tough film by Terrence Malick, who wrote and directed the film about a small family in Texas, going through the regular trials that life throws in their way. A father struggles in his career, he struggles to raise his boys, yet finds solace in music, playing the piano at home and at the organ in church. Up against their father’s strictness, the mother brings beauty and gentleness into her children’s lives, loving them more than anything else on earth. Finally, there’s the boys. One is a gentle soul who connects with his father on a musical level, but is tragically taken away from the family. One is a boy that goes through what many boys do in adolescence; discovering the potential for destruction and violence in their own nature, sexual desire in blossoming girls, and fitting in less and less beside his father at the family dinner table.
That may sound as a pretty straight-forward setup for a drama — one that reflects Malick’s own childhood transparently enough that anyone could place themselves in his shoes (especially someone like myself, who only had brothers, and grew up in a small town). But then the story is framed around one of the brothers in “present day,” as a successful businessman who works downtown in a skyscraper, and slowly mourns his brother.
And yet that may sound like a standard framing narrative for a drama too — but here’s where it gets a little nuts. In the middle of all of this, Malick incorporates a massive deviation from the family storyline that explores the origin of life on earth, from the big bang to dinosaurs. Yes… there are dinosaurs in “Tree of Life.” The amazing galaxy creation images come from a variety of sources, one major source being Douglas Trumbull, who Malick asked to make visuals for “Tree of Life.” Trumbull hasn’t made visual effects since “Blade Runner,” and is best known for “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Together Malick and Trumbull used paints and milks and chemicals and all sorts of techniques to build the galaxy-building sequences, and they are truly unlike any other seen on screen. But they weren’t just guys playing with colours; in preparation for the film, Malick met with evolutionary scientists from Harvard to get the most information possible.
Because of the “emergence of life” scenes, viewers of “Tree of Life” need to challenge themselves to see the family’s story in a bigger way… and I think Malick wants his audience to see this as a very theistic story, that blends science and religion and everything into a big question: How much of what we are simply “is,” and how much of it do we choose to be? This movie is about majesty, the majesty of creation, the majesty of love, and the majesty of pain. The following quote comes from the first line spoken in the film, and also comes from a paraphrased verse from the book of Job, where God is speaking to the man who has lost everything.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation… while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
- Previously: My favourite movie of 2010: The Wild Hunt
- 2011, movies watched, rated
- 2010, movies watched, rated
- 2009, movies watched, rated
- 2008, movies watched, rated