Terrence Malik isn’t particularly well-served by trailers, even when—in the case of Tree of Life—the footage is so good it plays like a short film unto itself. There tends to be a lot going on in his work and he takes his time getting there, which just isn’t something you can cut down to a two-minute long trailer. Maybe that’s why—stunning as some of this is—this feels embarrassingly on-the-nose. Maybe all the nuance is hiding on the edges of each cut. Maybe there’s no nuance and it’s just a gorgeous party. That could be cool too.
Despite my minor misgivings, Malik gets the benefit of the doubt and my eyeballs whenever this gets released. And the cast is pretty impressive:
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Wes Bentley, Isabel Lucas, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots, Armin Mueller-Stahl and the voice of Ben Kingsley