Synopsis: Read on IMDB

Should you watch this movie? If you want to exercise your brain a bit, sure, but I gotta tell you, the experience will be extremely confusing.

It is very hard to give you a summary of this movie. It is extremely simple and at the same time extremely complex. Quick version: This dude called Jack, played by Sean Penn ponders about events of his past and his somewhat trouble relationship with his father, played by Brad Pitt. As he goes through this process he also questions the meaning of life and his overall existence. As the story moves throughout his childhood in the 1950s with his mom, played by Jessica Chastain, and two brothers, the story is interspersed with images of the origin of the universe, from the big bang till the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth and everything in between.
I know what you are thinking… What the….?

I watched this movie on a plane. Maybe it was the bad headphones, the rumblings of the plane’s engines, or even the fact that I had been travelling all day and I was tired, but I had A LOT of trouble staying awake. The movie pace is very, very slow and we are dealing with a non linear narrative to make the experience even more confusing. The movie is visually stunning in the parts about the origins of the universe, but it might as well had been a 45 min special on Discovery Science (with a much better soundtrack) and the experience would’ve been a thousand times better. Still, you gotta give to the writer (who happens to be the director of this film as well, Terrence Malick) for making this collage of the start of our universe and beautifully fitting it with the tone of the characters emotions and overall storyline.
Maybe, just maybe, I have the emotional range of a teaspoon*, as deep as tiny dish of soy sauce, but, this movie did not really made an impression. Granted it kept my attention, but it was not the right kind. I kept wondering when the movie was going to start. I was very surprised to find out when the Academy Award nominations were announced that this one is up for Best Picture. I guess I’m not as artsy fartsy as the Academy. I don’t know, maybe if I watch it again I might get it this time? If you do get it, please let me know!

Paola’s mood after watching this movie:

 

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