The Tree of Life 

Dir. Terrence Malick. 2011, 139 mins. 35mm. With Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan, Fiona Shaw. Voted by Reverse Shot contributors as the number one movie of the decade, Malick’s toweringly ambitious, time-spanning Palme d’Or-winner, a symphonic vision of a boy’s coming-of-age in suburban 1950s Texas, retains the intimacy of a personal confession. Jack, a middle-aged architect (Penn) scans the memories of his childhood to recover the spirit of his lost brother, only to exhume his troubled relationship with his father (a monstrously vulnerable Pitt) and an idealized image of his mother (Chastain). Malick’s poetic form reaches a new level of refinement here. Aided by DP Emmanuel Lubezki, a team of editors, and a classical soundtrack comprising over 30 pieces from Bach to Mahler, Malick renders each moment of young Jack’s upbringing as a journey through light and shadow, of revelation and mystery, from innocence to experience. “These small moments of one family’s life in a quiet Texas town amount to nothing less than the eternal . . . we plunge into the deep past and the radical future, desire writing and rewriting what we see, every image an expression of Jack’s endlessly searching soul.” —Genevieve Yue, Reverse Shot

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.