Tree

I like this concept tree is realy nice film but bitlong.

Tree was a really interesting little movie. Some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen in an independent short. Excellent use of depth of field and color. Performances were also generally very good, especially from a child actress. A very chilling sound track. Some things that could have improved: The story seemed a bit confusing. I was unsure why characters were doing what they were doing a lot of the time. Also, the characters themselves seemed a little stereotypical. (i.e. the wife who wants to win a baking contest, the cute little girl, etc...). It would have been better to make the characters more unique and give them more depth. Finally, At one point the girl calls the tree and oak tree. From what I could see it was a walnut or butternut (okay, that's really just a dorky critique). Overall, though good work.

I liked Tree. The production was fairly sophisticated for what appears to be limited resources. I thought the performances were by and large very nice. Always difficult to get good performances out of children as well. Settings and locations were nicely chosen and photographed.

I have two criticisms that detracted somewhat from my overall enjoyment of the film. The first is a longer-than-necessary run time. My personal feeling is that this dogs many an Indy film. I think judicious editing could have kept me more engaged in the story, which, while interesting, is not nuanced enough to deserve a long running time.. The second is the too-dark night shots, which again I see in many low-budget films. A couple of well-placed lights with cookies can do wonders to create a night-time mood, instead of just black/grey, low-contrast darkness filling the frame.

But a commendable effort all in all.

The premise was good, but I found the movie losing focus, or not driving the theme home enough. There was a lot of talk about visions but maybe only 2 fulfillments (The wife's father and the little girls, who's seemed self-fulfilling.).

The cinematography was, in general pretty well done, however there were a couple of soft focus shots that were heard to get over.

I thought the story could have been tightened up by 5-10 minutes. The dad was a bit too brooding. It made the end very predictable. The final vision however was brilliant.

And for God's sake get a chainsaw.