The Tree of Life Reviews
The film is more kaleidoscopic than linear, filled with privileged moments of magic and terror, of remembered shards of treasured memories that have become idealized snapshot, and moments that are more textured evocations of emotions and anxieties.
| Apr 26, 2025
There are two distinct films being made here and while the opening frames of The Tree of Life are some of the finest in memory, there’s little in the middle-to-late section of the film worth noting.
| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 10, 2023
You may not be able to pinpoint with words how it all comes together, but the beauty and power of Malick’s imagery and impressionistic approach to filmmaking convey another ponderous picture, the director’s most ambitious and lyrical work yet.
| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 7, 2023
A film that blossoms into a compelling tale of nature versus nurture, which boasts one of Pitt's finest performances and imagery that will take root in your brain for days afterwards.
| Original Score: 4/5 | May 24, 2023
It is one of the most outstanding cinematic achievements of the 21st century and a tidy summation of everything that Malick does well.
| Original Score: 9/10 | May 11, 2023
This is the sort of sprawling, ambitious masterwork that rarely receives funding from a major film studio and you’ve got to admire Malick for sticking to his guns.
| Feb 1, 2023
An auteur's film, [The Tree of Life] is hypnotic and profoundly reflects on the triviality of our existence. [Full review in Spanish]
| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 18, 2022
The visual and sonorous work is of dominating and overpowering beauty, and the spiritual, philosophical, and religious voiceover is ambitious (there's a tad of new age in the film), oscillating between genius and puerile. [Full review in Spanish]
| Sep 7, 2022
It’s bold and unwavering and while it could be misconstrued as a vanity project, it’s a film that’s clearly close to Malick’s heart.
| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 27, 2022
A beautiful reflection in its bipolar structure, that fluidly equates the cosmic with the intimate. [Full review in Spanish]
| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 22, 2022
Worth watching for Lubezki's cinematography alone. A beautiful look at life from a microscopic level to the enormity of the universe.
| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 9, 2021
2 Bored 2 Beautiful
| Oct 2, 2021
You'll exit wanting three hours of your life back, a long hug, some ice cream, and your brain reprogrammed.
| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 17, 2021
By juxtaposing the tiny, "mundane" human with the towering, colossal setting in which we exist, it's almost impossible not to imagine that there must be rhyme and reason behind the sheer magnitude of this imagery.
| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 3, 2020
Its neatest trick is that it feels like a Malick autobiography even as it directly speaks to receptive viewers on a one-to-one basis. It's cinema as a give-and-take relationship: The movie can only provide as much as the viewer is willing to put into it.
| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 2, 2020
A majestic audiovisual experience with rewards aplenty for those who are patient. [Full review in Spanish]
| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 21, 2020
May not be the best film of 2011, but it will most certainly be one of the most unforgettable.
| Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 26, 2020
What a strange, odd, haunting, beautiful, and fascinating film.
| Original Score: B+ | Aug 6, 2020
"The Tree of Life" is breathtaking to look at, it really is stunning, but it is really just 138 minutes of whispering about God.
| Original Score: B | Jul 11, 2020
It is shown with a wonder of emotion and visual beauty, together with sublime images that symbolize catharsis. [Full review in Spanish]
| Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 24, 2020