Now the director's possible magnum opus is slowly wending its way to a hippie arthouse theater near you, with a marketing campaign by Fox Searchlight stressing how trippy the whole experience is. If you're wondering what this movie is about, you're already asking the wrong question. It's not really "about" anything, but in the same way that a painting or a symphony is not "about" anything - the movie prefers to dwell on themes and recurring images, rather than going through the standard narrative motions.
But, briefly, The Tree of Life spends the bulk of its time showing the lives of three young boys growing up in Waco, Texas in the 1960s. Their father is strict; not abusive, but terrifying to the young boys all the same. Their mother is quiet, submissive, and loving. In between these dreamlike sketches of growing up, we see one of the boys living the modern day, coping with the death of his brother and his relationship with his parents. Oh, and there's the creation of the universe. And dinosaurs. And a bunch of barefoot people on a beach hugging. And a wavy thing of light that may or may not be God. This ain't your standard coming of age story.
