Terrence Malick's Tree of Life takes a step outside the box

After a six year hiatus from his directing profession, Terrence Malick reemerged into the world of cinema and maintained his style of originality and non-conformity with the production of Tree of Life. Malick steps outside of the box of conventional cinema and takes risks and it has actually been well rewarded. Tree of Lifewon the Palme d'Or during the Cannes Film Festival. The Tree of Life also grossed about $372,920 on its opening weekend and opened a lot ofminds as to what a movie is or could be.

Tree of Lifehas grown tremendously from merely an idea Malick began toying with in 2001 to a movie released on a limited basis in select theaters. On July 8, it will go worldwide in 26 countries.

Despite its unconventional nature, Tree of Life was armed with two of the worlds most prominent and influential actors in the world, Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. The film is about a father who lives to regret the harsh way he treats his pre-adolescent sons. Eventually, one of those sons grows up to be compassionate man who lives to forgive his father.

Mr. O'Brien (Pitt), along with his wife, were both beyond petrified to hear that one of their three sons had died. This was the opening scene which gave a glimpse as to the peculiar direction this tale was heading. It might be hard to believe, but this is simply the beginning of when good goes to bad and the remainder of the movie has much more heartache in store for the O'Briens.

This picture was more like a piece of art than it was an account of events, fiction or otherwise. It seemed almost like a vague dream with no definitive purpose. It just wasn't very clear and had a disorganized feel to it.

What made up for this lack of organization and orderliness was the spontaneity and impulsivity that the story's directions propelled in. It is somewhat like a piece of poetry, its intentions didn't seem to be audience pleasing but more on the side of artistic expression.

This film is a philosophical exploration and hits many ideas and questions that most major motion pictures fail to embrace or even mention. Its cinematography is much like watching a moving painting, there is a certain artistic touch thanks to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

"There are two ways through life the way of nature and the way of grace. You just have to choose which one you follow," Mrs. O'Brien (Jessica Chastain) voiced a memorable line that may represent the films lack of emphasis on logic and its focus on emotion and imagination.

This is a one of a kind creation that produces a Zen-like meditative experience for the viewer with its animated sequences and somewhat hypnotizing camera angles. The actors' lines were minimal in comparison to many motion pictures, most likely because the audience's eyes were feasting on a plethora of eye candy.