The cinema of Terrence Malick presents a unique challenge to viewers because it tends to eschew straightforward storytelling in favor of impressionistic meditations on humankind’s spiritual condition. For many, his 2011 magnum opus The Tree of Life, which we named the best film of the decade thus far, best embodies this inclination. Fractured across multiple time periods and perspectives, the plot of the film could be reduced to events in the life of one Midwestern family, but the film’s overall construction suggests loftier aspirations.
In an illuminating talk given as a part of Biola University’s Torrey Honors lecture series, art professor Jonathan Anderson took up the Malick challenge by performing a close reading of The Tree of Life. He claims that the film is organized around five acts, the first two of which approximate the Biblical story of Job. In Job, the titular figure is wracked by unimaginable...
In an illuminating talk given as a part of Biola University’s Torrey Honors lecture series, art professor Jonathan Anderson took up the Malick challenge by performing a close reading of The Tree of Life. He claims that the film is organized around five acts, the first two of which approximate the Biblical story of Job. In Job, the titular figure is wracked by unimaginable...
- 6/3/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
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