karaokeralf

If you want to see a film with a distinct beginning, middle and end, this one is not for you.

If you want to enjoy lots of action or adolescent humor or gratuitous sex or endless waves of zombies chasing people down the street, this one is not for you.

If you want to sit through a movie that makes you jump in your seat, this one is not for you.

However, if your looking for an experience of visual and mental stimulation... go for it.

Let's just award it "Best American-made Foreign Film."

I don't recommend this film after a long, hard day at work or even when you're remotely fatigued. It is long and slowly moving. I would probably shorten the film, which is why I gave this a 9 instead of a 10, but in all, I have no complaints except for the people who call this utter rubbish or a complete bore. If you feel you've wasted two-and-a-half hours of your life on this film, then don't even attempt to fool us by shaving that patch of hair between your eyebrows.

I love all kinds a movies. My pallet of favorites (and there are hundreds) include, in no particular order, American Pie, Cars, Blue Velvet, The Help, Titanic and Citizen Kane. I can enjoy a ridiculous movie as much as an action-packed chaser or an intelligently written story.

Life is love and love is life. Without love you walk this earth pretty much as an empty shell. I know my place in life, and it was merely reinforced through viewing this movie. This film is not linear and it does not have to be. If you have feelings, have experienced love, loss, tranquility or pain, you'll get this movie, and it will get to you.

I don't have to mention anything specific from this film. I don't have to share any spoilers. I don't have to quote any philosophers, reference any other historical films or filmmakers to make my point. Plenty of people have already done so, and most of them are on point. My take on this film is really quite simple.

This film has a very easy to understand story. Most listings for this film completely sum up the plot, as does the menu on your cable box and even the description on IMDb (link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/). You can read any one of those and know what the film is about. IF that's all you want to know, select your next film. Otherwise, jump in, open your eyes and your mind and your soul and feel what's really coming at you.

I fell asleep during Cars and Captain America, both movies I enjoyed after playing them again. The Tree of Life had me completely glued to the screen. although it is not my wife's kind a movie, she enjoyed it as well, following it with a quick critique of "weird" and "strange." She also said "It definitely makes people talk about it." EXACTLY!

Hey, if you hated it, sorry for your loss. You can recoup your life time lost during the interview at your final gate when they ask what you learned in life. When they send you back to learn your lesson a second time, maybe you'll experience life a little fuller.

I was a child of the 60s, grew up in the 70s, made most of my life's mistakes in the 80s, but also learned an awful lot about life those three decades. That time period made me who I am today. I don't take much for granted. I played a LOT outside as a child, my mind was not desensitized by video games. My growing years were filled with music about the reason for war and the wrongs of war. Popular songs about love were poetic, meanings often hidden, and not in your face expletives.

Having said all that, this movie reached me deep inside. Music was always a part of my life... from day one. My father liked Glenn Miller and my mother loved Elvis. To this day I love that music too, as well as my own preferences with which I grew up. Despite my father never liking the Beatles, they are my favorite band of all time to this day. I think he objected to their hair. My father had a 30 year career in the U.S. Army. He served at the end of WWII, the Korean conflict and Vietnam. My love of the anti-war songs were not in rebellion to what he was doing, but instead reassured everyone that we found our American soldiers more valuable than whatever it was we were fighting for in Vietnam. Now my stepson is at the end of his tour of Afghanistan. I love him dearly, and support what he does and support our troops mission, but they need to come home now. What songs today speak of our missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Libyan conflict? It's just not the same.

In the 70s, besides never setting the Beatles aside, I loved CSN, CCR, Joni Mitchell and most of the artists who took part in Woodstock back in 1969, as well as all the great bands and singer/songwriters that followed. Songs of peace, love and understanding.

I became a DJ at age 16 and after disco unfortunately changed everything and college was over, I worked a couple of years as a roadie and eventually became a musician as well.

I put my guitar down around 1990 and didn't pick it up again in seriousness until 2007. That period includes probably the darkest period in my life. I will never set music aside again.

Should I, God forbid, suffer the plight of the main character in this movie, my wife knows what music to play.

I didn't feel the need to review this film as a critic, because my experience with this film was more emotional than intellectual. If you don't have instant recollection of a moment in your past whenever you hear a certain song, this movie is not for you. However, if you do have a solid connection between music and a memory, don't miss this film.

Julia Ormond was good in this film as the doctor that finds the connection. However, the real stars are the lesser known J.K. Simmons and Lou Taylor Pucci who did an incredible job of showing the differences in generations and how the tables can turn when your ears and your heart open up to something new or something you hated because of lack of understanding. I think in all of life's steps on the road through life, denial is the most destructive.

Don't view this movie technically, you'll miss the point. Open your heart and your soul, and you'll get it. Enjoy.