THE MOST BORING MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN

The Tree of Life premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews, winning the Palme d'Or.  The director, reclusive Terrence Malick (left), has been called a genius and poet.  The movie critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle, said Malick is trying to film God, and that this will be the cinematic achievement of the year.  Enough!  Rotten Tomatoes reported that 66% of the audience like it.  I thought this was the most boring film I have ever seen.  The scientific meaning of The Tree of Life has something to do with Darwin and evolution, thus the title, I guess.  From the Big Bang to Heaven.  Not a bad title, actually.

  

We see gorgeous space shots and even realistic dinosaurs (above).  All five minutes of them, with no obvious linkages nor transitions to the film itself.  The various flashbacks were, to me, almost meaningless.  Sure, I fell asleep a few times, and maybe I missed important clues.  And, yes, I must be an idiot because I didn't get it.  Some compared it with 2001:  Space Odyssey.  I am reminded of Ryan's Daughter, something I saw 40 years ago.  Uber boring, but it did win an Academy Award for great cinematography.  In part, The Tree of Life also had good cinematography.  But that was it!  An ultimately boring flick.

I actually also saw two more movies today, both very entertaining:

  1.  Incendies, a Canadian film which earned a 94% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.  I took French for my PhD, and think the title has something to do with being burnt, but in this case, not necessarily by fire.  Another example on the evils of religious beliefs.  I will not give this plot away, which is shocking, and an ultimate in family secrets.  The film could have occurred in almost any country, but this one, I think, must have been Lebanon.

  2.  Finally, at home, I saw the 60 year old Starlift, one of those movie star canteens from World War II, but this one had to do with the Korean War, and there actually was a series of Operation Starlifts from Burbank to Travis Air Force Base in those days.  1951 reviews were terrible...but I liked this movie.  Doris Day, Ruth Roman, Gary Cooper, Virginia Mayo, James Cagney, Jane Wyman, Phil Harris and many more.  The songs were memorable:  S' Wonderful, You Oughta be in Pictures, You Do Something to Me, It's Magic, What is This Thing Called Love and more.

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