The Tree of Life may be the finest film I have ever seen. While I often heard it provoke a particular question (“what the hell was Tree of Life all about?”), this tended to reflect, to me at least, more of the viewer than what was being viewed. Having now been brought into contact with To the Wonder, the first film of Terrence Malick since The Tree of Life, I find myself in an uncomfortable position: I could answer those questioning The Tree of Life, but I have much more difficulty responding to those who, introduced to the struggles of Neil and Marina and Fr. Quintana, ask “who the hell cares?”
Away from Her (2006)
Away from Her owes existence to two Canadian women; author Alice Munro and director Sarah Polley. Based on a short-story penned by Munro — entitled “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” — Away from Her follows an older man named Grant who is increasingly experiencing abandonment. Two factors contribute to his sense of having been marooned.
First, his wife Fiona is institutionalized following the onset of dementia. Fiona acknowledges Alzheimer’s disease when she tells Grant that she is not yet “all gone … just going”. She admits “beginning to disappear”.
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
I do not remember whether, as a child, I was read Where the Wild Things Are. Perhaps I was. Perhaps not. In any event, lines penned almost fifty years ago have since been put to screen by Spike Jonze.
Max is a lonely eight year old boy who inhabits two different worlds. The first he shares with his mother and his sister. After both incur his wrath, the boy, decked in a wolf costume, is seen running away.
God on Trial (2008)
“God on Trial” is a drama originally airing in 2008. It begins in present day Auschwitz where persons are touring what was once a network of concentration and extermination camps. One visitor remarks how difficult it is to believe that “Auschwitz” could have happened. Another responds with a narrative perhaps also difficult to imagine: Prisoners of the camp once made a court, and while waiting for death they tried the one most responsible for what had happened. “God on Trial” renders how such a trial might have unfolded, and four significant streams of thought are presented in this drama surrounding the relationship between God and the Jewish people.
Biutiful (2010)
Biutiful follows a complex man who makes his living in the underworld of Barcelona. On one hand, Uxbal participates in the exploitation of others. On the other, he seems not entirely indifferent to their plight. The father of two children and the husband of an unstable wife, Uxbal discovers that he has only months to live. He sets upon reconciling with his estranged wife, being remembered by his children, and raising enough money to ensure their security after he dies.
Lady in the Water (2006)
Lady in the Water is the seventh film of M. Night Shyamalan. It is not particularly well-liked.
The storyline is fairly straightforward: Heep superintends an apartment complex and encounters a narf named Story. Story is in search of her vessel, and once having caused an awakening in him or her, she intends to return to the Blue World via the Great Eatlon. Her mission is complicated by the presence of a rogue scrunt who, no longer fearing the Tartutic, is intent on killing her. You got that?
Habemus Papam (2011)
When it appeared he might be elected pontiff, he described feeling as if a guillotine was coming down upon him. Later, telling a German audience of pilgrims that he prayed to be spared, he playfully added: “Evidently this time [God] didn’t listen to me.”
As of 28 February 2013, Benedict will step aside: “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”
