The Tree of Life at 15: Malick’s Cosmic Masterpiece Revisited | #1064

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Speaker 2: What kind of a show you guys putting on here today?

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Speaker 1: You're not interested in art?

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Speaker 3: Now? No, Look, we're going to do this thing.

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Speaker 4: We're going to have a.

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Speaker 1: Conversation from Chicago. This is film Spotting.

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Speaker 2: I'm Josh Larson and I'm Adam Kempinar.

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Speaker 3: There are two ways through life, the way of Nature the way of grace. We have to choose which one you'll follow.

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Speaker 1: Terrence Malicks, The Tree of Life came out nearly forty years into the reclusive director's career. Does it still retain its distinctive fifteen years later? And is it his best film?

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Speaker 2: And are there really dinosaurs in the movie? Or did I hallucinate that fifteen years ago? Answers to that and more ahead on film Spotting. Welcome to Film Spotting. Josh Sam has decided to hit us with a new one. We want to remind our listeners that Film spotting Fest two is ahead. We're calling it now sixty eight weeks later.

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Speaker 1: I approve. I also like that Sam had to do the math for that.

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Speaker 2: Well, yes, I wonder how long that took him easier math to do. Four films, two venues, one weekend June twenty seventh and twenty eighth in Chicago. Tickets are on sale now. You can learn more at film Spottingfest dot com. Josh hit them with some of the details about the event.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully the films are familiar to people by now, but if you're just hearing of this for the first time, here's what we've got for you. Saturday morning, we're kicking things off with Cleo from five to seven, and we'll have a post screening discussion with Agnes Varda biographer and critic Carrie Ricky. She wrote the book on Varda. I can't wait to talk to her about it and Cleo from five to seven. Then we'll have a filmmaker joining us for our second movie of the day. Trey Edward Schultz will be there with his film Krisha to view it and discuss will be rounding out Saturday that evening with Wet Hot American Summer and one of our favorite critics, one of Chicago's best critics, Scott Tobias, is going to be joining us for that post screening conversation on Sunday. It's a Matt Maee screening of how Fun's This going to be? The Royal Tenenbaums, with another great Chicago critic, Michael Phillips talking about that one afterwards.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's a twenty fifth anniversary screening thirty five millimeter at the Music Box. The other three films all at the Athenaeum in Chicago. What Hot American Summer is also a twenty fifth anniversary screening, and Kresha, we're celebrating ten years of that film, a Golden Brick nominee when that movie came out. If you're a film Spotting family member, you get a discount on the Saturday pass and on the Sunday tickets to the Royal Tenenbaums. Learn more about that, as I said at filmspottingfest dot com, email us if you have any confusion about that as a film Spotting family member, feedback at film spotting dot net. But you do if you get that Saturday Festival pass you do get to participate in a special meet and greet opportunity once again Film Spottingfest dot com. One quick reminder, Film Spotting is available as a video podcast. You can watch us talk over at YouTube dot com slash film Spotting first up. Though it's the Tree of Life at fifteen.

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Speaker 3: Night, Charlie wants to please so bless as good others to please it too, loving and faith the service likes to lord it over them. Bless these boys have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy. All the world is shining around it.

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Speaker 2: Slants. Jake Cole owns one of the three most like reviews of the Tree of Life on Letterboxed, and deservedly so because his opening line alone perfectly captures my experience revisiting this Terrence Malick masterpiece. I will never understand how this film, which follows an upbringing so different than mine, can be such a pristinan madaline triggering sense, memories so powerful that it can be difficult to watch the film while reliving some moment brought to mind by the most glancing image. Cole is referencing Marcel Prue's seven volume novel in Search of Lost Time, originally translated into English as Remembrance of Things Passed. Here's an excerpt from the Matalane episode, which appears in volume one, and forgive me here. It's a little lengthy, but it's so good you'll understand why I have to share it all. As I came home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined it first, and then, for no particular reason, changed my mind. She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petite madeleines, which look as though they had been molded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim shell. And soon mechanically weary after a dull day, with the prospect of a depressingmorrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked. A morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid and the crumbs with it touched my palate. A shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, but individual detached with no suggestion of its and at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters, innocuous, its brevity, illusory, this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence. Or rather, this essence was not in me, it was myself. I had ceased now to feel mediocre, accidental, mortal. Whence could it have come to me, this all powerful joy? I was conscious that it was connected with the taste of tea and cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savors could not indeed be of the same nature as theirs. Whence did it come? What did it signify? How could I seize upon and define it? You see, in this same place on Sunday mornings, as a child, the narrator's aunt Leony would give him a small madelane after dipping it in her own cup of tea. Sometimes that's all It takes, a taste, a smell, to instantly bring us back to another time and place, perhaps one we had long forgotten about. What's fascinating about Coal's is not only that the memories Malick renders on screen are in fact Malick's own childhood memories, rather than Cole's, but also that cinema itself is not a sensory experience in the same way that's smelling or tasting a madaline DiPT in tea. Is Josh, like Cole and me, you didn't grow up in Waco, Texas, mostly in the nineteen fifties, nor did you grow up with any brothers. Unless I've missed something dramatically, okay, you're not shaking your head. I observe correctly. I've met your dad on multiple occasions. And unless Dave is a better actor than Brad Pitt, I'm going to say there's a zero chance he was as strict and domineering as Pitt's. Mister O'Brien is here. This is true, okay, And yet I have to think it's highly likely that you, like Cole, like me, watch The Tree of Life and experience a Priustian revelry. What's your Madeleine moment or sequence of moment? Where are you suddenly incomprehensibly transported back to your childhood or your adulthood? And is it hyperbole to say that this movie provokes an exquisite pleasure where the vicissitudes of life become indifferent. It's disasters, innocuous. It's brevity, illusory, filling you ultimately with a precious essence and all powerful joy.

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Speaker 1: This is a very accurate way to capture the movie and the experience of watching it. I think for people beyond just a couple of guys, even I think there's a universal connection with some of the things this movie is exploring. But it also makes me realize Adam. One of the reasons I would say, as we've been kind of joking about that this is malex best film is because of that individual focus he brings to bear with this character of Jack, this boy who as an adult is played by Sean Penn, and I think it's distinct from all the movies he made before this, which are either ensemble pictures or somewhat you know, a thin red line, a group film, huge ensemble right, and even Days of Heaven, I guess bad Lands, you know, two main characters. But what we have here in the Tree of Life is this focus on individual experience, individual memory and wrestling with those memories as an adult, and yet it becomes universal in that way. So for me, it's the scenes of young Jack played by Hunter McCracken, trying to figure out his place among the other boys in the neighborhood. It's those or it's the ones with his younger brother where he's with the BB gun, holding the BB gun and telling him to put his finger over the top and I'm not going to fire. But I go back to the boys running around in the neighborhood because that is almost a one to one to me growing up at that age. And I don't know if I've shared this on the show. When we talked about Malik previously, I didn't pick this, as you know, one of my favorite scenes when we did that top five from one of these moments, but when they're breaking windows, when they're you know, teasing the dog and you know what they put What do they put in the bottle? Rocket? Is it a frog? Something like that? Those were That stuff was a lot of my summers. And what Malick gets about it is the deep existential distress of being faced as a child with clearly needing to make moral decisions when you're on your own without your parents. I think that this is what a huge part of what The Tree of Life is about. And it's about more than that, but I think it's a huge part and it relates to your opening question here. So I go back to one of those afternoons, was running around with the boys in my neighborhood, probably about young Jack's age, and we stumbled across behind someone's backyard just ripped up pages from a Playboy okay, centerfold everything. This was so this would have been what, let's say, like early eighties, all right, So you know in your imagination as a young boy playboy, you know what it is, and this is what happened. So there's probably like six or seven of us. The whole magazine was wet, and people started figuring out it was all ripped up on the back of the shed because it was wet. We could just pick a piece up, put it against it, and if we find all the right pieces, we'll get the full picture. And so this was our afternoon. And I just remember that being like one of these first times I was like, what am I going to do here? You know what? And for whatever reasons that was, you know, that was my moment of having those thoughts. And I think, Maliki, there's just just guilt, and it's the choice more. It's it's pre guilt. Honestly, it's pre guilt. It's it's like, what what should I do here? And you know there are moments like this in the Tree of Life where Jack, the young Jack, you know, sees the neighbor, the woman hanging out her laundry and he's noticing her clothes and he actually goes into her house later.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to just tie this to sexuality though, because you know it's I don't think Malick is equating sexuality with sin, and obviously I've matured beyond that sort of thinking as well. But it is what comes to mind to me, and I think Adam just quickly to wrap this up, but to connect it to larger and why this is beyond just boys experiences of running around with boys in this movie is I think the Tree of Life is the culmination of the larger question that's a reflection of that Malick explored from Day in bad Lands, is why is this world both beautiful and broken? And I think of him as a sculptor with his earlier movies, carving away at these models at that question, why is this world have violence and beauty? Why does it have terror and bliss? It's the nature and grace thing that's at the heart of the Tree of Life. Right right, And to me, someone who appreciated his early films but felt a little distant to them, when I saw The Tree of Life, it was like he had found a way to sculpt that with this movie. That question about the beautiful and the broken at once and our experience of it, and I think it's related to the moral question is maybe a lesser one, but they're related. It's like, why am I a human being who again set the Playboy centerfold aside? Whatever the moral decision you're making. Why am I struggling with this? Why do I have the tendency to make the wrong choice? What is this within me that isn't allowing me to make the right choice? If I can't overcome it, who can save me? Who can carry this burden for me? That's what Malick is after here. I think it's what he was after in all his previous movies, and for me, this is the one where he just he got.

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Speaker 4: It right, do I?

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Speaker 1: Adam? I think I may have tricked or found a way to get Debbie to come with me to a horror movie. Horror not always her thing. I love it, but the other day she just said, we were looking at movies, we might want to go check out maybe I want to see this Hokum? Do you want to see Hokum? And I thought, well, of course I do. It's a horror movie, and so I didn't say much more. Yeah, well we'll have to try to find time for that. Looking into it, I see why Adam Scott is the star. Okay, so already I know she's in for that. He plays a horror riter writer visiting an Irish in to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware the property is haunted. Okay, we visited last fall, Ireland. I can see some of the connection there. So I think I might be able to get her to go to this with me.

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Speaker 2: Does she know that he's a bearded Adam Scott? Is she okay with that? Apparently?

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Speaker 1: I think, oh that's a great question. In just very different in general. That's a pro with him. I'm not so sure. So I'm not going to bring that up in case it throws off our plans, and I'll just report back on that later. Sounds good, pokem might be our next theater movie together. End with Regal Unlimited, it could be our next free movie together because Regal Unlimited allows you to see recent releases for Free. It's the all you can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Right now, Regal is offering film spotting listeners endless movies for less. Sign up for Regal Unlimited right now using code film Spot twenty six, and you're going to get fifteen percent off. Regal Unlimited is the only truly limitless movie subscription pass. You can see any standard two D movie at any time. They don't have blackout dates or restrictions. Also, with Regal Unlimited, you're going to save money on more than just tickets. You also save on snacks. Members get ten percent off all non alcoholic concessions. So sign up now in the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code film Spot twenty six to receive your discount.

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Speaker 2: By the time I get to my choice of moment, it's going to seem like I'm trying to one up you because you you revealed this, this dark, shady moment from your past. Of course, of course it's not that actually, but you know all, you admitted to something that every one of us boys experienced exactly at some point in our junior high lives. And I'm I'm going to go for something that's hopefully or I won't even say hopefully. It just is much more touching from my adult life. So I'm going to go ahead, and I was probably going to get to this later, and I'll just admit to it off the bat here. There's there's way too much of myself that I see in mister O'Brien, in Brad Pitt's character. Now we don't have we don't have dinner scenes quite of the nature that we have in this movie, but I still see too much of myself in him, and I'll admit to that. And one of the ways I see myself in him is what I see as a son, not a father. And talk about devastating lines, this is one of those lines that I actually think it might as well just be you might as well just put this on too many men's epitaphs as their epitaph on their tombstone. I think it's the lament of the American male. I never got a chance to tell him how sorry I was. Way way too many, way too many men, I know that ends up being something they utter in some form at some point in their lives. So I'll get to the moment I had planned to say was my Madeline moment. And I want to thank Jake Cole. Of course, I'm glad I saw that. I'm glad I was able to have that as a foundation for my intro. I really want to thank Proost, and not just forgiving me fodder for an intro, but forgiving us the language to talk about the Tree of life, because I think that, I mean, honestly, I think that the image dream Malik offers and the ineffable that he tries to invoke with it, and the types of quandaries, the existential quandaries and moral dilemmas that you're expressing that he is challenging, he's challenging himself that he is exploring in this film. I think you're almost required to use language that transcends the quotitian. Unfortunately, Proost, I am not I am but a mere mortal who feels mostly mediocre and accidental, and all the tea and cake in the world isn't going to change that. So we're just going to do our best here throughout this conversation. I think the entire, the entire innocent sequence, at least that's what it's called on the DVD, and it makes sense. I think watching it, we all understand that's exactly what it is. That entire innocent sequence is that follows creation is one of the most sublime extended sequences in cinema. And I know there are some people listening right now who are waiting to write in. I do look forward to reading your emails. We read them the first time we reviewed The Tree of Life. Who think that our love and others love for this film is a little overblown. You can't believe I'm talking about proost and needing a language to talk about this movie talking about this sequence is one of the most sublime extended sequences in cinema. I'm just telling you that's how I felt. That's how I felt watching it the first time. I feel even more strongly about it now. For the two hours and eighteen minutes of runtime, I was in some combination of complete awe and almost on the verge of tears pretty much the entire runtime with this film. That's just how it works on me. And it's part of its power is that it's working on this innocent sequence, is that it's working on one level, it's functioning narratively. It is functioning narratively within the context of the story itself. Yes, there is a narrative here. I may not have even fully seen it the first time, but one of the benefits of watching a movie like this, or any movie a second time, is you can actually see how it fits. And even for Malik, maybe he got away from it post The Tree of Life, but here there is actually a pretty clear structure, clearer than I remembered. But this Pristian thing, this sense memory of childhood is so visceral, playing with your siblings, playing with the other kids in the neighborhood. The bad the quote unquote bad elements too, though, and part of those bad elements are also within your family. The sense of conflict, confrontations that you may have, becoming disillusioned with a parent or parents perhaps as you grow older, right and questioning them. And the point I'm going for here, Josh, is that it's not just that watching it that I or maybe others relate to it. You say, Oh, that seems accurate. Boy, didn't Malick capture that? No, I'm saying that that going back to Proust, because of the imagery, because of the editing, because of the score, because of the specificity of it all that all conspires to provoke in me or give me that same psychophysio reaction as tasting or smelling something from my childhood that brings it all back or or irrupts something you know inside of me. And so I'm going to give you a moment. But I also want to say one other aspect of this, which is, and I talked about this a little bit with sentimental value. Another aspect of this innocent sequence is that that Malick takes this house and he expands it to the whole yard. The way you understand this whole setting, and the way we feel about place, and the way I think I know I'm not the only one in my family, and I don't think I'm the only one probably listening to this who who can romanticize and nostalgicize a place from our past, the first place you grew up in, and the way we attach meaning to it, whether it's even accurate, fully accurate or not, we are placing a nostalgic glow on it. But I think we look at the place we grew up in, especially if we did move away at some point, maybe when we were in fourth or fifth grade, we see those early years as this place of innocence, and that's how I feel, Josh so strongly. I have mentioned this once or twice over the years in the show. But the first house I grew up in and my sister, you know, I have four younger sisters, but the one directly below me, we we grew up in this house mostly the one after Melissa was just a baby in that house. And we know that house, and you know, you move out of it and you think, oh, I can't wait to get out of this house. It's old and kind of crappy, and we're going to move into a better house across town. And then something happens when you when you get to college, and you start thinking about that house, and I'd really love to go back into that house and see my old bedroom and have those memories. And you do, and then you forget about it for a while, and then you have kids and you go, wow, I'd really like to go back into my old house and see what that's like in my old house. And now I swear to you, just about a month ago, my sister Melissa sent me, sent me the Zillow listing our house. Our house is up for sale, and she wants to buy it now. We have no reason to buy this house. I don't have a bunch of extra money floating around to buy this house. It is in terrible shape. It will cost just as much to renovate it. Don't do it as it would cost to buy it.

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Speaker 1: Don't do it.

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Speaker 2: I don't have a reason to live in this house, nor to rent it out to anybody. And yet the feeling, the hold that house has over us, she's so strong that I'll tell you, at least she's not kidding. She was really thinking about it, and she probably could have convinced me to at least be part of it. That's how strong that feeling is. So it's something that this film, somehow Malik is portraying on screen. The feeling I just really poorly tried to express. It's all there in imagery on the screen. And so I'll just say that, if I had to pick a moment, my Madeleine moment is when it's not a childhood moment, it's more of an adulthood moment, and it's when toddler Jack walks over to the crib to see baby RL his baby brother for the first time. And you can throw in those ensuing moments on the out on the lawn to where the examination of his brother continues. They're just no better moments as parents than when you're introducing your kids to their siblings for the first time, watching them pick up their hands, touch their feet, smile at them, study them. Occasionally they get angry with them, like like happens here in the movie, and the the mom has to say no, don't do that. You know, they get too rough with them.

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Speaker 1: How about that in terms of had to be unplanned. I mean you're working with a toddler and then.

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Speaker 2: You know, Chestain is really reprimanding that kid, right.

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Speaker 1: Because baby threatened him or something.

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Speaker 2: But that happens. Your kids do that.

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Speaker 1: And it's connected, Adam, It's connected. So that's what we were talking about. Yeah, well, what were you going to say? Connected to it's connected to the this it goes like everything you've described is absolutely correct because it's so personal, it's so relatable. But the miracle of this movie, because there have been others that do something maybe not quite to this exquisite filmmaking degree, but they do something similar bring you back to your childhood in a distinct way. This movie connects it to the cosmic and it's in little touches like that where we suddenly connect. Is that like original sin in that kid that he wants to throw this truck at it, And it's like before this this toddler can even process why he's doing something he should do. It's making us think about those questions you're right and all unplanned, right.

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Speaker 2: Like mal because that kid, though as a kid, doesn't have a choice really in it. So that's where you're going with original And just even the way it's shot, there's a certain eeries not the right word, but it's so striking because the first part of the Innocent sequence has all the nonlinear stuff, all of the the swooning camera, the music, it's all been scored. It's now silent. All we're hearing is the outside world, you know, the crickets and the birds and nature, and it's just that shot of the crib isolated against the window, and then all of a sudden, toddler Jack just comes walking into the frame as if he's coming in to kind of explore and see what that thing is over by the window, and that that grabs you and then maybe this is a reach, maybe it is, but for me, what it also harkens back to is that image from Creation of the Dinosaurs of the of the Creek, because it feels to me exactly It feels to me exactly like that moment where and I know it's not a one to one comparison, but it feels to me the same as the little dinosaur laying lying down right and the big one coming towards it to investigate. And you don't know what that big one thinks of the little one. You don't know if the big one is going to hurt it or if the big one is going to help it. You don't know how it's going to regard it in that moment. That's how I feel about Jack is the dinosaur walking towards the helpless dinosaur in the crib.

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Speaker 1: I That sequence, which I know people joke about, I think is also connected to this notion of why is there good and evil in the world? Because that bigger dinosaur puts its claw on the other's head and pushes it down right with the sadism of a human. There's no like Darwinian reason to do that. You know, you either you either kill something to eat it or you move along right if you're just so there's something so provid to me going on in that dinosaur sequence, and it's never struck me as funny. I mean, it seems like it's completely in the threat of creation. We're following history here. Of course, there's going to be dinosaurs at some point, and then to throw in that moment of sadism paused mercy granted, yes, and the dinosaur goes on. It's just it's just like, yeah, the way he's connecting all these things to this one family's experience and life is what I think is the true miracle of the Tree of Life is that it's it's all works together that you can drop this massive creation sequence in the movie and it to me, it doesn't feel out of nowhere at all. It feels like it was necessary, at least.

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Speaker 2: Not the second time you watch the film. I remember sitting in the theater kind of knowing it was coming, kind of knowing it was coming because the lore of the film around it already. Even just going in, you knew there was a twenty minute or whatever creation sequence it. It's certainly I'm not going to deny that the first time I saw the film it felt more disjointed than it did this time. Now, I do see how it all fits together, Josh, including including the fact that the movie really is. I mean, if you just want to understand what the movie is. I actually feel a little bit silly now thinking about it, because the movie starts with a quote from Job, and we have creation sequences and innocent sequences, and it's called the Tree of Life. He really has just taken Job and Genesis. And I mean, you're this is I'm on your corner here, so I'll turn it over to you. But but he, he truly has. I mean I studied it. I studied the Hebrew Bible back in college, you know myself. But it's been a while, but he's taken Job. It starts with that quote. Ten minutes in you have you, hear Chastain saying, after the news.

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Speaker 1: Lord, where were you? Lord?

00:32:23
Speaker 2: Where were you? Have you have? After the boy dies from drowning, you have young Jack asking was he bad? And you let a boy die? He says to God, you let a boy boy die? Why should I be good if you aren't good? Yeah, he protests to God. Right, and this happens. There are lines like that, sequences like that where this is a this movie. This is a movie that is about suffering from start to finish. It is about suffering, which is what Job's about, and it is about questioning God in the face of that suffering and trying to come to terms with that. At the same time, if you're questioning God and you're trying to come to terms of that, that means that means that you're imbued with some knowledge or you're taking the risk of that knowledge, the grace versus nature. And so you get Genesis. You get for a while, we can live together, we can live, we can live in Eden for a while. But then at some point, when you, like Jack, start pushing back or questioning God, which on earth his emissary is Dad, Father, Don't call him dad, you have to call him father, That's when things start. That's when things get very uneasy in that house. Right. So it surprised me, Josh to the extent the extent to which the movie, for all of its nonlinearness, and it is a nonlinear story, decidedly how linear it actually progresses.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: It It maps onto the Book of Job. It just likes astonishingly perfectly in a lot of ways. And that was that was the revelation, you know, in this most recent viewing because I was doing it within the context of one of the courses in my theology in the arts program I'm in right now. It was paired in a unit on the Book of Job, and you know, opens with it, as you said, a line from Job, So it makes sense, but it made me look at it specifically through that lens, and I would it's almost like every character in this family is a Job figure in some way, because they are each suffering in different ways, and they're each questioning God in different ways. And you said it about as well as I could. You hit the things that are important in that jump out is the way that the mother even demands answers, and it does come after creation. I think the one thing i'd add is one thing I love about the Book of Job, and I would say it and Genesis are the most fascinating to me in the Bible because they seem to hold both all the answers and all the mysteries that you'll never you'll never get the answer to at once. And you know, for me here part of that is you get an answer in Job from God. Job gets his answer, and it's what Malick begins his movie with, Where were You When I laid the foundations on the earth. So it's this thundering humbling you want to know all these big questions, and there's silence through a lot of Job until finally we get this response, which is where were you? You have no, you couldn't even comprehend the answer if I gave them to you. Sort of this complete humbling experience. Now there are a couple ways to respond to that, and you have a movie like the other Book of Job adaptation. We both love the Coen Brothers A serious man, which you know is a little bit of a different response to that sort of questioning, I would say, a little bit more cynical perhaps, But here the Tree of Life registered to me in this most recent watch as if you focus on the adult Jack so Sean Penn's character, it did strike me ultimately, which the Book of Job is as a one man's renewal of faith even amidst a world where evil holds sway and can't be explained. But particularly, and this ties to our discussion of memories at him with the Tree of Life, I think he regains his faith through the witness of his mother Jessica Chestain and his brother who he lost as he remembers them. So this entire movie can be seen as Sean Penn's character recognizing reliving that loss of his brother and starting to actually think about some of these memories that he had maybe been buried for so long. And you can see, you know, there are glimpses, there are glimpses of hope breaking into this movie with the adult Jack. You can see, even when he's in his office, his modern office building, he looks up at the sky through those glass windows, there's a tree of life in the courtyard there amidst all that metal and glass. And of course we have the direct instances of it in those heavenly landscape scenes on the beach, which the movie peppers itself with. And I think that sequence, the beach reunion sequence, you know, I think after that is when the elevator brings the adult Jack back down literally to Earth from where he is having that experience higher in the building. And so I was thinking this time, like, what is that beach sequence? Is that it could be heaven actualized, right, we see all these people from his life. It could be foreshadowed.

00:38:08
Speaker 2: It could be heaven for reuniting with people who have passed, could.

00:38:12
Speaker 1: Be that it could be Jack just coming back into the fellowship of believers in a way, it's just a way of expressing his spiritual journey. Could you Jack finding contentment in God without understanding, which is where Job is at the end of the book. So I do like that, Malik, you know, as explicit as we're making all the spiritual themes here, I do like that he doesn't to me, at least spell it out exactly what's going on, because Job doesn't either.

00:38:42
Speaker 2: So I want to go back to what you said earlier. I think you were getting at this when you said now you completely get you understand and think the creation sequence of course has to be here. It has to be here precisely because of what you're talking about and how it fits with Job the opening quote, where were you when I create? We have to see it's God's response in the movie, the creation sequence is God's response, So it has to be here. And of course I also do think about the hubris then of Malick voicing God by depicting it in a way is is It's an interesting bold Bold doesn't begin to cover it right, but he does he Yeah, I think I think it's him speaking for God and I love that you You rightfully pointed out that it is everybody in this film, maybe only Steve, the youngest boy played by ty Sheridan. We don't or I'll say we don't fully see. We don't get as much of a sense of his suffering. He's definitely suffering like all the brothers. But we understand that Penn, despite how little we see of him in the film, that he's suffering in the modern day. We definitely see it in Hunter McCracken's Jack. We see it in in the The Brother Beneath Him RL, and we see it in in Jessica Chastain's Mo. And we see it of course, and mister O'Brien too, even throughout the film. Even though he may be the catalyst for all for a lot of this, and he may be the villain of the film in a lot of ways, he also has his own job like moment, doesn't he because he has he has a point where he says later in the film, I never missed a day of work. I never missed a day of work. I tied every Sunday. He just like job. He played by all the rules, didn't they right? And what what did it get him? All he did was get humbled, he got humiliated, he got shamed, he got he got fired. And not only that, I think this is this is his version of or Malick's depiction of losing everything. Effectively, they not only have to just have hard times or they don't have as much money coming in.

00:41:12
Speaker 1: They get kicked out of the house.

00:41:14
Speaker 2: They have to they have to leave, they get banished, they get banished from this place Josh completely. So that's his punishment for playing by all of the rules. And so that's that's his job moment as well. But I also like that in this film we get we get moments where we see into his humanity as well. And so there's a scene, for example, not only which I'd forgotten, where he and the younger Jack actually do have have have a heart to heart that they don't they don't leave things completely unresolved into his adulthood like I maybe thought they might have. But the moment Josh that I think is one of the most devastating in the film. And and this is one I'll admit to. It's another one that I'm thinking about when I say, maybe I see too much of myself and in mister O'Brien. I don't know that it's always easy. Again, I'll speak for myself, but for for a lot of us men to show our emotions and how we really feel. And the part where he asks Jack to bring him the lighter, and it seems so appropriate for him, and I think, through a lot of people's eyes watching that scene, that's just another example of him controlling his son. I get it, bring me my lighter. And then he doesn't. He doesn't do it completely the right way, and so it seems like he's kind of chastising him right because he doesn't give him a kiss on the cheek. He's demanding love. What a bad guy. And then when he turns and leaves and he asks him, do you love your father?

00:42:56
Speaker 3: You love your father? Yes, sir.

00:43:00
Speaker 2: I see in him. I see, and Pitt depicts this. I see in that man, and in that entire exchange, he loves that kid so much and he wants, he wants to be loved by that kid and all those kids so desperately, and he just does not know how or is just not equipped to express it properly. That doesn't excuse any of his behavior, but it's just a reality. And you see it. You see that desperation in him, and we finally do see as the movie goes on that he does become somewhat self aware. He has to because of what happens the death of RL. He finally has to confront that.

00:43:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you're making that distinction, because I think the positioning of the father character as the villain of this movie has gotten overblown, and Malick sets it up a little bit with this nature grace, I should say, dichotomy with the mother grace and the father nature. And I don't sometimes I wonder if that was entirely helpful to put it in such stark terms, because I really do see this as a human experience that the movie is capturing, and it's slightly different for the father than it is for the mother and for each son as well. So yeah, I think the movie. I think in that sense, the movie is more nuanced than sometimes people remember when it comes to the mother and father characters.

00:44:25
Speaker 2: Can we just talk about some of the imagery and.

00:44:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we both had five Malick scenes, we both had two across his whole filmography from this movie on it. And do you regret that or do you feel now having revisited that, that makes sense.

00:44:46
Speaker 2: No, it of course makes sense, and I actually should have had these up and I maybe need to bring them up here as we as we talk about it. I do remember one of them for sure, and Sam reminded me of this. We actually did two different Malik top fives. How about this, speaking to Malick and his imagery, we did at one point our top five Malick images and our top five Malick scenes. Josh, I forgot about that. So it turns out, guess what. And I truly didn't know this until I just looked it up right now. Top five Malick scenes I called innocence. Just called it innocence. That entire sequence was my number two, okay, and then the dinner table fight, the rebellion, the be quiet when RL pushes back against father, that scene, that moment, for me, that was my number five. When we did our Terrence Malick images, I know that one of the images on my list. And see, this is what happens when you pick images out of context of the film, when you don't have time to rewatch the entire film. I take nothing back what I said. Everything I said was accurate, but rewatching the movie I remembered that I picked the image, Josh of it goes to what I was just talking about. It's the image of mister O'Brien as they're walking towards the house and he puts his hand on Jack's shoulder, and it's both this, come on, let's go inside. Yeah too rough patting on the back, but also absolutely his way of trying to show his son love and affection and being physically affectionate with his son. And what does his son do in that moment, Exactly what you expect Jack to do in that moment, based on everything we've seen up to this point. As soon as his dad's hand touches him, he recoils a little bit, yeah, and goes to the left. But here's the part I was getting at at the start of this. It's mirrored later in the film. Had forgotten that the scene where they do get to have in exchange, where they get to they get to come to terms with each other without without everything being completely forgotten and forgiven, they do get to come to terms with each other. That is ended. That is punctuated Josh with a similar exact, same, actually not similar, the same kind of hand motion on his back and there's still, as I recall it, a little bit of that awkwardness, but not like it is in that moment there, and it says a lot. It says a ton that there's now that just subtle distinction and how Jack reacts.

00:47:39
Speaker 1: What an incredibly instinctive performance from Hunter McCracken, who, according to DIMDB, didn't act after this. So yeah, but here is just so lived in all right, so mine this is funny. I pulled up my images too. I totally forgotten we did that. But already on the Malick scenes, I touched on Dinoh Mercy. I had that at number three. There you go, and then number one is kind of what I was talking about at the very start. I went with the brothers with the bb gun, where Jack is, you know, playing and making one of those one of those existential choices. And then I look at my Malick images and it's related. I was looking for a Malick image to in one shot this duality of human nature, and I landed on from the Tree of Life. It's a throwaway shot of the kids playing in the neighborhood, but it's their shadows. Yeah. I don't know if remember this. I mean, it's just cinematographer Emmanuel Lebski, I don't think we've noted yet, but to capture something like this as a just purely as a pictorial image. It's the shadow of boys playing on the street, but you don't see the boys. You only see their shadows, and because of where the position he's at, their upside down, so their heads are at the bottom of the screen. And this is just like in one and a half seconds capturing to me, like everything this movie is exploring the duality of the shadow side. But they're at play. It's fun, it's beautiful, but it's also hinting at something. It's also the dark side of them. Why is it upside down? It's a little little disconcerting in that way. And this is a movie, Adam, that gives you an image as potent and rich and esthetically pleasing like that every twelve seconds it seems it feels like it, Yeah, where you could like if I ever did a cinema interruptus on this where we break it down like shot to shot, we would never get out of here. It would you would just be like staring at the screen and you'd be pausing every second and a half.

00:49:51
Speaker 2: It's incredible Yeah, that shot you mentioned is, in fact the first shot in my notes that I It wasn't the first note I took, but it was the first shot that I noted and pondered and tried to make sense of. It was so fascinating, and it throws you off a little bit.

00:50:11
Speaker 1: It throws you off.

00:50:12
Speaker 2: And that's why I think it's so great is that it's it is just as you described it. It's something so familiar, shadows of it's kids playing, but it's shadows of kids playing. But then on top of it, it's upside down. And the only way I could really describe it is like so many images in the film, it's it's life like we've always seen it, except like we've never seen it before. It is it is. It is the familiar, but somehow alien and and and it's constant the way Lubski and Malik do it in this film. And not only that they do it. The best imagery in this film, I think consistently is with shadows. It's it's shadows and silhouettes. It's it's not only Chastain often this is true, but also the woman. I'd forgotten about this sequence completely. I'd forgotten about the woman that he starts to develop the lustful feelings for. I forgot he broke into her home. I forgot that he hit the slip and put it down the down the river. But the way that he sees after he spies her, oh that too. But when he sees her, Josh, and she then ends up behind one of the sheets, and so we see her silhouetted against the sheet. The images, those images of people silhouetted again or any kind of shadow is so haunting in this film. But it's also I would say, the way they managed to find I don't know how to describe them other than I'll say spirit images. And what I mean is, you know how they they they sort of use almost as chapter breaks. Maybe you have a term for this, Josh, maybe in your classes or your class you came up with this. But the that that flame, that that flame against the darkness that the occasionally is is something that they use between parts. There are corollaries to that, And I don't know if they're meant in entirely to be or they're just meant to be their own, their own spiritual type images. But throughout the movie you can find ways that they in the natural order of things they find versions. Oh wow. So for example, yeah, on the wall at one point they just shoot the wall one of the bedroom walls, and it's just the way we've all seen it, but we never stop to really look at it. The way the sun comes through the wall and it will get refracted a certain way so that the light and through the tree, you know, it'll just be that like kind of glowing yellow bit against the wall. It looks like that flame looks right, it's shimmering against the wall. You'll see that. There's a shot of the moon at one point, Josh, where the clouds, the way the clouds specifically are against the moon where it looks just like that.

00:53:16
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:53:16
Speaker 2: I don't know how they do it constantly throughout this film, but they do.

00:53:20
Speaker 1: I love that, and I'm next time I watch this, I'm gonna be looking only for that. Yeah, that that image, I mean, it's it's I think it's meant to represent, you know, the cosmic image of God is what we're looking at.

00:53:34
Speaker 2: There, and.

00:53:37
Speaker 1: That is also seen. Maybe my mind is going now as you describe it that way. How about the shot where they're like in the canyons, Actually there's no people in it. Suddenly we'll get a shot of these undulating canyons that are like cinnamon colored and they're almost They're obviously not moving, but because of how they're formed, they I think that's another one. Yeah, that it falls in line with what you're talking about, So I think, so, yeah, I'm gonna look for that next time I watch this.

00:54:04
Speaker 2: Okay, anything we didn't get to will Will our film spotting family members be satisfied with the length of this conversation?

00:54:14
Speaker 1: I mean no, because I'm not hit an hour. We should we should probably keep going. But I think we've ex expressed what we wanted to and that it's held up for you, at least because this was your you sold your first time, your first time since release.

00:54:29
Speaker 2: Josh, it's my first time since twenty eleven, and I'm glad you said that, because this this reminds me of something I did feel like it was worth mentioning. Sam had put this in our notes that this movie was reviewed for the first time episode three fifty one, about twenty five episodes before you joined the show June twenty eleven, then Top ten Films of twenty eleven, episode three eighty. You were on that show. We both named it our number one of the year. Came up again Top five films of the film Spotting Era. This is episode five hundred, our big blowout with Michael Phillips and Dana Stevens at the Music Box in August twenty fourteen. You had it as your number one film of the film Spotting Era. I had at number two, behind the Master. Then we put it in the Pantheon in June twenty seventeen as part of our It sounds like I definitely had it this time, and I was just watching at home Top five Religious Experiences at the Movies. Finally, just recently episode ten thirteen May twenty twenty five, Top twenty five films of the twenty first century. You had it at number two. I put it at number eleven. But if we had had this rewatch, there's no way It's not in my top ten and probably not in my top five. It it exceeded my expectations. It truly did. Yeah, wow, I will revisited it. You have to.

00:55:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I wasn't worried that you were going to not like it, but I did wonder, you know, how well it would hold up and in light of you know, some of Aleck's later work, and how much I know you love his early stuff. I think that's where we differ, is I think you revere his early stuff maybe higher than I do. So maybe we go back to that question now.

00:56:16
Speaker 2: I'm placing I'm with you now. Yeah, I used to feel. I used to feel, I used to feel like you could make a case. Even though it was his first film, and maybe if it didn't feel quite the same in terms of ambition, scale, scope, polish as something like The Tree of Life or even The New World or whatever, bad Lands was still the movie for me that somehow, just I'll go back to the word potent, it's still captured something for me that a lot of first films and a lot of first novels can do. Somehow they feel like it's what the filmmaker most wanted to express, and they got it. And that's where I was. And I've loved other films too, including The New World, where I thought The New World, which was my first Malick that also felt since it was my first that was my introduction to Malick, I thought, Okay, this is what Malick is. This is that right balance of narrative logic, but with nonlinear storytelling and the emphasis on poetry, cinematic poetry, but with enough narrative foundation, world building and characters to latch onto. So when Treo Life came along, I saw, Okay, he's pushing that. He's pushing that now further. And I got that. I now see that, yes, he was pushing it further, and he was pushing it further in a way that I find tremendously satisfying. It's his best film. It's clearly his best film. It's not even close.

00:57:57
Speaker 1: I okay, you're wow, you're going hired. I love it. I'm with you. I think it means more coming from you, I will say, than me just knowing how much love you have for a lot of that early stuff. But I just go back to that sculptor analogy, and it's like I can see where he's going, I can see how he's trying to get there, and maybe there's some techniques that you know are being leaned on here a little too heavily, or the voiceover isn't entirely working in concert. It's like all those elements he was working with, all the materials that he had in every movie before this, they're all here they're just shaped in a perfect, perfect way for the movie that you get a sense he wanted to make.

00:58:42
Speaker 2: We would love to hear. If you disagree or agree with us, you can email us about the Tree of Life or share any other comments about the show feedback at film spotting dot net. Speaking of our Film Spotting family members, let's take a moment to thank a couple of them.

00:58:57
Speaker 1: Josh, Yeah, thank you to family member Ginger Sheridan, who's in Neptune Beach, Florida. And also thank you to advisory board member Will Johnson in Portland, Oregon. When they joined, we invited them to answer a few questions so we could get to know them better. And Ginger shared this. She found us by googling movie review podcasts. I've been listening for about six months. I keep listening because your review all genres with a mix of quotitian and scholarly banter. Adam, I think, didn't you just use quote Titian in our in our reviews? So how about that? Following Ginger's lead there.

00:59:34
Speaker 2: Twice Sharday episode, you know, maybe don't play the drinking game with Quotitian in this episode.

00:59:41
Speaker 1: Here's Will I discovered podcasts and was looking for new ones. I think the first episode I heard was in two thousand and seven where Sam and Adam massacred Buffalo sixty six, which I immediately had to see. And I've been quoting that movie since.

00:59:57
Speaker 2: Okay, spanning time together, Well, that's all we're doing, spanning time a movie we got wrong. Ginger says, differences of opinion aren't wrong unless you tell me the original The in Laws isn't the best movie ever nineteen seventy nine, Peter falk allan ark and directed by Arthur Hiller. I won't tell you that, Ginger, because I haven't seen it. How do you feel about that response?

01:00:20
Speaker 1: Right? Which is where? Yeah? Which is worse?

01:00:22
Speaker 3: Not?

01:00:23
Speaker 1: Or that you haven't seen it. I'm in the same.

01:00:24
Speaker 2: I'm guessing that I haven't seen it. But who knows? Will says, is it too early to say Superman twenty twenty five? Yes? It is, Will too silly.

01:00:33
Speaker 1: I think. I think that's going to be a common answer to this question of the years.

01:00:37
Speaker 2: I know we're gonna be hearing that for ten years. Josh, uh huh, Robbie doo, We'll be doing this fifteen to twenty years from now. And getting Superman twenty twenty five movies they credit with becoming cinophiles. Ginger says to sir with love, and Will says pulp fiction. That's a bold statement.

01:00:52
Speaker 1: Will thank you Ginger and Will for being family members. If you want to follow Will on letterbox, he's at long claw Claw with a K. Ginger says, I have no idea what letterbox is. Check it out, Ginger, You'll okay, you'll love it, You'll have fun. You're all on there. In addition to keeping us doing what we're doing, family membership comes with perks. You can listen early in ad free, You'll get a weekly newsletter. You'll also have exclusive opportunities like the Film Spotting Family Discord and monthly bonus shows. We got ahead of this month's Bold Bonus show at them at least recording it. We got it done with Sam Thompson, the winner of Film Spotting Madness Best of the nineteen forties. This year, Sam came up with the idea to do a new Hollywood draft, which was a lot of fun. So that one is in the books. It will be coming out to Film Spotting Family member feeds very soon.

01:01:48
Speaker 2: That's right, And who had the number one pick in that draft.

01:01:51
Speaker 1: Josh, you mean who had Chinatown? That would be me.

01:01:56
Speaker 2: Okay, spoilers, Yes, you did have Chinatown. I won't even say you lucked into it because you had the right answer to the question that Thomas Todd post to us.

01:02:05
Speaker 1: And you true earned I earned Chinatown.

01:02:08
Speaker 2: What does it say about my brain that I've seen Will's letterbox handle for years? I think it's even part of his email address, and I have never once thought to pronounce it long claw. I have always I've always said, long k law. I'm an idiot.

01:02:27
Speaker 1: Wow, you're You're right.

01:02:28
Speaker 2: You are certainly right. It's long claw. It's got it.

01:02:32
Speaker 1: From what I know of Will. He's not an attorney. For a minute there, I thought maybe he was. He's not an attorney. So I think it's got dumb.

01:02:42
Speaker 2: For as little as five dollars a month, and that's even less if you pay annually, you get all of the benefits Josh mentioned, including getting to hear that very fun bonus episode coming into your feed soon. Learn more of filmspotting Family dot com. You can also rate or review us. Yes, we still do like positive ratings over at Apple Podcasts and at Spotify. Every new review hopefully will help us reach some new listeners.

01:03:10
Speaker 1: What I want to tast is not so complex.

01:03:14
Speaker 3: What if they observe us the same way we observe them.

01:03:19
Speaker 2: That's Tony Leon from his new film Silent Friend. No big deal, Josh, I just got a chance to talk to one of the greatest actors of all time. Yeah, Tony Leon, how about that? How about that? It was It was fun, I have to say, he of course, of in the mood for love fame. He had a longtime partnership with director Wang Kar Wai. Among dozens of other movie credits. His new film is called Silent Friend, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildeko and Yetti. The Silent Friend of the film's title is a ginko tree on the grounds of a medieval German university. It's a it's a film definitely worth seeing. Got a lot of buzz on the fest circuit. Josh, I don't think you've had a chance to see it yet, but I know it's it's coming up on your screen soon.

01:04:12
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's all I need. I don't need to know anything else about it. That description the ginko tree, Tony Leung, I will be there so yeah, you and I going to talk about Silent Friend. Next week we will have your conversation with Tony Leong. We are also going to catch up with the title that you Adam drafted. Did we draft our summer year? Yeah?

01:04:32
Speaker 2: We drafted? Mhm we did you drafted?

01:04:35
Speaker 1: Hick Decorado okay animated film. It's going to be in limited release this week and it comes from Spanish animator Alberto Vasquez. I'm eager to see that one as well, so we'll check out that along with Silent Friend.

01:04:52
Speaker 2: We also wanted to take a moment to mention that, well you may be aware of it as a film fan, that the twenty twenty six Can Film Festival open today as we're recording, that's Tuesday, the twelfth. Some of the titles premiering at CAN and playing in competition include new films from rece Khamaguchi Drive My Car, Evil does Not Exist. His new one is called All of a Sudden, which is set in a suburban Paris nursing home. Hi A Kazu Kurita has a new one out the near future, set Sheep in the Box, about a couple who are raising a humanoid robot as their son. Okay, I'm in Christian Munju four months, three weeks in two days. The Romanian director, He's got a Norwegian set Fjord. You should have done the pronunciation of that one, Josh. But Renada Reinsfah, one of my favorite actresses, is in that along with Sebastian Stan and James Gray. His new one, Paper Tiger, reuniting Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson from Marriage Story There together in that new one.

01:05:55
Speaker 1: Ira Sachs's new film is the eighties set The Man I Love. That one stars Raimi Mallick as a theater artist living with aids. Pedro Almodovar's Bitter Christmas is playing at can which hopefully means it will come to American cinemas later this year. Oscar Farhadi has a new one as well, the Parascet Parallel Tales that features Isabelle Hupeer and Cassel and then Pavel Pavlakowski. This is his first since twenty eighteen's Cold War. It's Fatherland with Get This Sandra Huler and then lastly a couple here titles playing out of competition, Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. That one came up on our Summer movie preview and Nicholas Winding refins her Private Hell, Yeah, refins, first feature since twenty sixteen's Neon Demon. I love Nion Demon, so I will have to be sure to catch this one.

01:06:55
Speaker 2: What is going on there? I have not heard that name in quite a while. Had made a few films in a row. Was on Film Spotting. I interviewed Nicholas Winding Refin back when The Neon Demon came out. I'm curious to see what that filmmaker is up to when her Private Hell plays near us, and I'm sure it's one we will talk about here on the show. The can Film Festival runs through the twenty third Josh, I don't know about you. You'll be back in this country at this time next year. I do have next year ear marked. It couldn't happen this year because I have a college graduation to deal with, but next May I think it might be the time. I think it might be the first trip to the Can Film Festival.

01:07:37
Speaker 1: All right, can I hide in your suitcase or something.

01:07:40
Speaker 2: Or there might be a broom closet for you to stay. Okay, we'll see perfect perfect.

01:07:47
Speaker 4: Tell me what you were remember.

01:07:52
Speaker 3: Well, life a son, and then.

01:08:06
Speaker 2: We won them more time for some poor results. A couple of weeks ago, as part of our summer movie draft, we asked you to choose one and only one summer twenty twenty six movie. It was pretty simple. You could see Christopher Owlans The Odyssey or anything else, any other movie that you're more interested in than The Odyssey. Josh, did the Odyssey take this or did any other movie win?

01:08:32
Speaker 1: I mean, anything else? Put up a fight took forty three percent, But yeah, the Odyssey won this with fifty seven percent of the vote. Here's a note from Robin DC. There's an old Onion article titled Yankees ensure two thousand and three pennant by signing every player in baseball. Now, I'm not saying Christopher Nolan is doing the cinematic version of this by casting every interesting actor in Hollywood in the Odyssey. But I'm not not saying that give me the star power and spectacle fair enough.

01:09:01
Speaker 2: John Dempsky says, does the spectacle of a two thousand year old tale film purely on analog imax by one of our greatest working directors, starring everyone under the Sun sound incredible, of course it does, but not to be morbid, how many more times will we get a chance to see an alien themed Spielberg film on opening weekend? If we're basing this on genuine excitement, not just impressiveness, Disclosure Day it is.

01:09:24
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm with you there, John, Here's Sam Creighton. Nolan is never going to be more exciting than Spielberg. None of Nolan's top three Interstellar Memento Oppenheimer, would challenge any of Spielberg's top ten Jaws, Raiders, The Lost Dark Et, The Last Crusade, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private, Ryan, Close Encounters, The Fablement's Minority Report. Nolan has made great films, but Spielberg is one of the greats. It's no competition. Wow, man, Sam as the guy who voted Disclosure Day voted other Yeah.

01:09:58
Speaker 2: Even Josh isn't along with that totally.

01:10:01
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to give that some thought. None of Nolan's top three would challenge any of Spielberg's top one time.

01:10:08
Speaker 2: That's that's obviously false. I would say that maybe about the first four he listed, but I'm not going much deeper than that.

01:10:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think Sam's getting a little ahead of himself there.

01:10:19
Speaker 2: Sorry Jeremy laugh, He says, teenage sex and Death at Camp Miasma looks like it was made in a lab. For me, I'll always be seated for anything Jane Schoenbrun does. But I simply cannot pass on a modern, inventive slasher no matter who makes it. All Right, there you go.

01:10:34
Speaker 1: Rob Steger said, glad, I don't actually have to make this choice. And I can see the Odyssey and a lot of other movies too, But if I can see only one, I'm appeasing my nearly fifty years of comics fandom and watching Supergirl. Sorry, Homer.

01:10:49
Speaker 2: So Rob doesn't think he has to play by our rules, okay. Parents Outside the film spotting Universe, Fine Brett in Newton, Mass says, do I want to see the Odyssey? Of course? Do I need the Odyssey in my life? Possibly, but probably not right now. I do need another John Carney movie, power Ballad.

01:11:07
Speaker 1: It is yes, Wow, Okay, power Ballad coming in to knock out the Odyssey. Shoshana Rosenbaum had another pick that isn't the Odyssey the invite? I loved Book Smart and don't worry. Darlene. Olivia Wilde is an underappreciated filmmaker and her latest looks intriguing.

01:11:27
Speaker 2: Couple more for you, John from La, I'm voting for the Odyssey, but I want to give some love to Jackass best and last. I've gone to see all the Jackass movies on opening night with a pat crowd, and those have been some of my most fun and enjoyable experiences in a theater. In one such instance, I literally slap my knee in a burst of rackets laughter. Shout out to Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass fellowship for capturing the fun spirit of summer to such hilarious and squirm inducing effect.

01:11:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine that would be a pretty wild time. Last time, it comes from Scott g. The summer movie that tops my personal list, Coyote versus actme. This live action slash animated rop might not have even seen the light of day if it weren't for another distributor buying it from Warner Brothers. Luckily, we will have our chance to see Will Forte and John Cena act like utter fools for our amusement while the infamous Wiley Coyote sues the Acme Corporation over all the defective products he's ordered from them in his eternal quest to catch the Roadrunner. Sounds like a great time to be hmm.

01:12:30
Speaker 2: Okay. That brings us to our new poll question looking ahead to next week's big release, Star Wars, the Mandalorian and gro Goo. We're asking because we genuinely have no clue the Mandalorian and gro Goo Josh. The options are.

01:12:47
Speaker 1: I'll see it opening weekend, I'll see it in theaters, I'll wait for streaming. What's a gro gu? I'll be skipping.

01:12:57
Speaker 2: So we now have to answer this question, and currently we do have this pull up for a few days now. It went out in the film Spotting Family newsletter. And what's the line from the Tree of Life Father, as always you wrestle inside of me ancide something about the duality. I'm pretty sure that that. The two top answers, and they have almost equal number of votes, are we'll see it opening weekend and what's a grow gu?

01:13:30
Speaker 1: That fits? That actually makes a lot of sense. Now, I didn't know what a grogu was because I have watched all the seasons on Disney Plus. But here's here's where it lands in my focus. I guess you should say. I had to ask other family members who watched it with me. Did that end? Is this like ANX like? Is this a news story? Is this rapping? Turns out, Adam, everyone's curious about this. This is essentially the last season of the Mandalorian. This move, they blew the last season up into a feature film. So I mean, I want to see it because I've put the time in, and honestly, the best thing I liked about the show, which I hope will be carried over into the film, is great costume design in this and a lot of actual locations like it was had good production design as well. So I'm interested in it. I'm in it on those fronts. That's what I'll say.

01:14:32
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I suppose I have to answer the only truthful answer here, which is what's a grogu? I have no clue. I haven't watched any of these TV shows. I haven't watched any episodes. I don't even know what a Mandalorian is, so I can't answer that. That's my answer now, if it really does, also mean what's in parentheses will be skipping Obviously I'm not skipping it. We're reviewing it, so I'm seeing it if if I was, if I was a civilian, I suppose I probably, I suppose I probably would be skipping because I have not been keeping up and I wouldn't have a clue what's going on.

01:15:10
Speaker 1: And does that make me a little sad to the coal mine into the coal mine with this one?

01:15:16
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean, am I a little sad considering my childlihood love for all things Star Wars? I guess, but I don't. I hate being the guy who says this, But it is just a fact. I don't watch TV. I don't watch anything on TV other than movies. That's just well nothing literally nothing sports occasionally. That's it.

01:15:40
Speaker 1: Let's be fair. If you did, I don't think that Mandalorian would have you know, been at the top of the line. You're viewing choices, which which I I get it, I understand.

01:15:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear Madmen's pretty good. I may may finally see that at some point. I recommend we would love to hear what your answer is. Tell me all about what a Mandalorian is. Forget a GROGU just tell me what a Mandalorian. We gotta start, We got to start at the beginning. You can vote in the poll and leave a comment at film spotting dot net slash dot com. Either one will work, Josh, That's our show.

01:16:17
Speaker 1: If you'd like to connect with us on social media, you can find Adam in the show on Instagram, Facebook, Letterbox, YouTube and Blue Sky. He's at film Spotting. I'm at Larsen on film We are independently produced and listeners supported. You can support the show by joining the film Spotting Family. Do that at filmspottingfamily dot com. That way you can listen early and ad free. You'll get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, and access to the entire show archive. For show t shirts another merch go to film spotting dot net slash shop.

01:16:52
Speaker 2: A quick run through of what's opening this weekend, we mentioned Decorado, the new animated film. We hope to talk about that next week on the show out Wide, Guy Ritchie has a new film out, Josh. It's his fifth film since twenty twenty three, his second with Jake Gillenhaal. Henry Cavill also stars their Elite operatives on a mission. There's only one kind of operative, It's Elite. They're on a mission to steal back a stolen fortune. It's called in the Gray.

01:17:19
Speaker 1: Can we get Richie and Malick to flip their production speed? Hey, that's all I'm asking. I'm not banning Richie. I'm just saying, like, if he could do the Malick pace and Malick could do the Guy Ritchie pace.

01:17:31
Speaker 2: Okay, See, I thought much more interesting you were going to suggest that Guy Ritchie make like in the Magic Hour and Terrence Malick make a movie about elite operatives on a mission to steal back a stole unfortune. I don't want that, No, you don't, Okay.

01:17:46
Speaker 1: Just more malax less.

01:17:47
Speaker 2: Richie is God is also out first time feature director Alicia Harris adapting her own stage play about two sisters on a quest for revenge Janelle Monet and Sterling K. Brown and That eighty six on Metacritic. Life Hack from director Ronan Corrigan, also a first time director. Obsession featured debut from Curry Barker One Half of the That Was a Bad Idea YouTube duo also good rating on Metacritic. If you're interested in eighty two, it's a cautionary tale about the perils of getting what you want and an instant contender for classic midnight movie status. According to Daily Beast re releases. Shrek and Top Gun Top Gun Maverick are back in theaters next week. Here in the Film Spotting feed, you can find film Spotting SVU The State of Streaming. They're going to be taking a look at Netflix, Matt Singer and Jordan Hoffman. They're assigning grades. I'm actually very curious about this, especially as someone who needs a little bit of I guess intentionality behind these platforms where to focus my energy. They're going to be assigning grades to the various streaming platforms.

01:19:00
Speaker 1: Josh, I like that. Yeah, that'll be helpful.

01:19:03
Speaker 2: You will also soon hear the next picture show coming in the film Spotting feed. And how about this George Miller's Babe Pig in the City paired with the Sheep Detectives. The title of this pairing the Burden of Hoof.

01:19:17
Speaker 1: Come on, Josh, I mean, come on, you know, I give I guess the next show up with their because it's a title. Something about this makes my skin feel it.

01:19:29
Speaker 2: You're related? No, all Powerful Joy? Yes, No, I know me too.

01:19:34
Speaker 1: Other direction.

01:19:37
Speaker 2: All right, Tony Leong and Silent Friend and more coming Friday here on Film Spotting. We'll see what else we can get up, Get Up to.

01:19:45
Speaker 1: Film Spotting is produced by Golden Joe to So and Sam van Holgren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks to everyone at WB easy Chicago. More information is available at wbeasy dot org for Film Spotting.

01:20:02
Speaker 2: I'm Josh Larson and I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening.

01:20:05
Speaker 3: This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.

01:20:09
Speaker 2: The Burn