Quote of the Day, Jr.

"I didn't at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I've ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What's more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly."

-- Sean Penn, expressing his disapproval with the final cut of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life

You know, Sean, you pompous tool, the default position with most of America is not caring one bit what you think. This kind of bullshit is why. Malick is a genius; you're a jackass. He doesn't have to explain a damn thing to you. Shut up and act.

"Unless You Love, Your Life Will Flash By"

In my mind, what Cormac McCarthy is to the written word, Terrence Malick is to film: He's an artist who finds glory and grandeur in the tiniest moments, and a spiritual inevitability in the most mundane and often destructive of human undertakings. The films he makes are lovely and powerful -- poetry both brilliant and eminently maddening.

This is one of the reasons that I've been anticipating The Tree of Life -- which just took the Palme d’Or at Cannes -- probably more than any other movie this year.

And while Malick constantly reaffirms why he's one of the world's most vital filmmakers, Roger Ebert's recent take on his work reminds us why he is one of the most astute and talented writers in his genre.

Read on, then watch the trailer for The Tree of Life if you haven't seen it yet. It's just about moved me to tears more than once.

Roger Ebert's Journal: A Prayer a Beneath the Tree of Life/5.17.11