Tree of Life: 2.5 hours that nearly killed half the audience

It's true. People in the theater were laughing out loud at the apparent ridiculousness of it, a handful left the theater, and most were falling apart by the end. I mean, sure fine you didn't like it. But get over yourselves! Read the reviews and walk into it knowing what it's going to be like!

And what was it like? Well, it's a representation of life, from the beginning of the universe through the evolution of Earth/animals/humans, and into the afterlife. It loosely follows a plot for part of the film, but the character development is a bit unclear and there's no real progression or resolution in the story. There are moments of total abstraction (think the National Geographic Planet Earth series), and most of it is simply a juxtaposition of images, sounds, and ideas. And that's all it has to be!

So in general, I liked it. It had beautiful images, cinematography etc. I didn't let myself get too caught up in its abstraction (which most others did, and therefore rolled their eyes and laughed), and just took it as a series of images like those one would experience at an art gallery. You can analyze how/why those images fit together or don't, or you can take them just as they are. So if you're prepared to sit and watch a series of beautiful images and sounds for 2.5 hours, go see Tree of Life!