FILM ... with Michael Dalton
The Tree of Life (PG)
Director: Terrence Malick
Stars: Brat Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, the Universe as we now don't know it
Rating: 4.5/5
138-minutes, now screening
Firmly dividing audiences and critics, and aggressively booed at The Cannes Film Festival, Terrence Malick’s controversial new film, The Tree of Life, comes on like a dream.
For the indolent, this appears to be a film about family life accompanied by unconnected imagery. But for those willing to meet Malick halfway — and to appreciate this exhilarating work, you must — his film is a thoughtfully designed examination of the world, our place in it, and what we are.
The primary focus here is a family with Brad Pitt (in a revelatory performance) and Jessica Chastain (who resembles a young Liv Ullman) as the parents. They have three sons, and much of the action is seen through the eyes of their son Jack (played in his mature years by a confused Sean Penn).
One of Malick’s many contentions is the mystery of human behaviour, which he investigates through the domination of a father over a son (paralleled early on by a staggeringly beautiful return to The Big Bang where we witness the conflict between two dinosaurs), and the growing resentment of the son. Can we ever understand why people behave the way they do? A broad question certainly, but one Malick answers with elegance.
There’s more, much more, as Malick plays host to their lives, mirroring their actions with the bigger picture and always with the finer details. This profound piece, full of imagery, and superbly scored by Alexandre Desplat and classic choral standards (Tavener and Gorecki among many others) drifts and floats, meandering along with little exposition. The Tree of Life is for those willing to surrender to this journey, and there’s never been one like it. Malick’s film moves slowly and it must, for The Tree of Life is some kind of a masterpiece, alive with beauty and truth.
Isabelle shines in hit-and-miss afffair
Special Treatment (MA15+)
Stars: Isabelle Huppert,Bouli Lanners
Rating: 3/5
96-minutes, now screening
Isabelle Huppert makes any film worthwhile; whether she’s tortured by personal demons (The Piano Teacher), introverted (8 Femmes), or obsessive (Home), Huppert brings her own unique style of performance to the table.
In Special Treatment, she plays Alice, a fetish prostitute ready to get out of the game. Running alongside her is Xavier (Bouli Lanners) a disillusioned, arrogant psychiatrist who, as the film begins, is ready to leave his wife due to, it would seem, general discontent.
This is a curious film, in search of a tone, and not as balanced as it should be. It hits the right notes and there’s a delicious, giggly sense of the forbidden as we watch Alice prepare for her various clients—one is turned on by sex in the middle of a crime scene, another by seeing her behave like a lollipop-loving nymph—yet there’s no real sense of foundation to the action. Neither character is happy, they need each other, but surprisingly, their eventual meetings don’t result in much, other than confusion and withdrawal.
Whether we visit a prostitute or a psychiatrist, the idea is to leave feeling better and this contrivance, which is certainly exciting fodder, isn’t handled with the sophistication it deserves.
Special Treatment tries to be arch and cool about the hooker lifestyle, tries to peel back the layers of Xavier’s dilemma — at one point he visits an exclusive sex club which overwhelms him hysterically — and tries to, with little explanation, bring Alice peace. But the final resolution is too trite, too easy, and too self-righteous.
Refusing to treat Alice, Xavier refers her to another doctor who works in a disabled centre, which is mawkishly used for a “things could be a lot worse” scenario. Neither Alice nor Xavier is a fool, but Special Treatment certainly makes them out to be.
The Binge
The Yes Men Fix the World (M) now available through Madman
Blades of Blood (M) now available through Icon
The Firm (MA15+) now available through Icon
Certified Copy (M) now available through Madman
Something of a mixed bag this issue, as I trawl through the DVDs I have for review. In The Yes Men Fix the World (above), self-appointed guardians of the oppressed and the weak, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, once more set out to take on irresponsible and unscrupulous corporations.
This latest film is more of the same from the guys who spawned The Yes Men in 2003, and while some of their stunts seem a little repetitive, and others prompt outright guffaws, the concept becomes more than a little disheartening when the same stunts and ridiculous corporate presentations begin being taken seriously by those who churn billions of dollars around the world—tick-shaped bio-survival suits that feed on global refugees to sustain their corporate wearers? Fantastic! Do you have a card?
In the big budget Blades of Blood, two sixteenth-century Korean statesmen pit their wits against each other in order to rally enough support to either collaborate with advancing Japanese invaders, or unite squabbling clans to defend their homeland. This compelling film certainly lives up to its title, drenching the sets and cast in treachery and tragedy.
Another kind of treachery comes to light in The Firm, as the unemployed Dom (Calum McNab) falls victim to the glamour of football violence in his local neighbourhood, particularly in the form of the charismatic thug, Bex (Paul Anderson), who is totally comfortable picking up wide-eyed sycophants and grinding them up in gang violence before spitting them out on the streets.
And finally, for something a little more urbane and cerebral, cinephiles will froth at the mouth over the DVD release of Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, starring Juliette Binoche and relative newcomer, William Shimell as two people who meet in a small Italian town, and proceed to role play some quite disturbing relationship scenarios—or are they role playing?
