Yesterday, The Onion’s A.V. Club ran a brief about forthcoming Terence Malick film Tree of Life, shot just outside Austin in Smithville, Texas. That headline you see above is theirs, not mine, but it was so good I couldn’t resist using it. (And furthermore, our very own Sean O’Neal — editor of A.V. Club Austin — authored said piece and presumably, headline).
Watching this trailer is a little like watching NOVA in the beginning, and then Brad Pitt, and then the 1950s, and then Sean Penn? I’m not 100% sure what it’s about. But it looks Oscar baity.
Fun facts about Tree of Life‘s filming in Smithville:
- It’s also where that Sandra Bullock movie, Hope Floats, was filmed.
- The namesake of Tree of Life is a 65,000 pound tree in Smithville.
- A local Smithville dog named Dexter plays Brad Pitt’s family dog in the movie.
- While Brad was filming (do you like how we’re on a first-name basis? Me and ol’ Brad?), Angelina Jolie was interviewed by Vanity Fair at our Four Seasons.
I will probably see Tree of Life. But I don’t know. Sometimes I lack patience for movies that, from the outset, look like they’re trying to teach you something about life, about this crazy world of ours, that forcefeed you some kind of larger lesson. Movies like Crash.
What movies do you guys want to see right now? For me, it’s Blue Valentine all the way. Thanks for the recommendation, Lauren.
