Although his film “The Tree of Life” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn premiered this week in Cannes, it certainly seems like the acclaimed director Terrence Malick didn't even bother to show up at the much awaited premiere. Could his absence from many of the events at Cannes, including his own premiere, be hazardous to the likability and approval of the film? Perhaps within the actual film festival this might be the case because of the audience's reaction to the whole situation, but when it comes to box office results, this is something that has yet to be seen. Festival reaction alone may not be an accurate predictor for a film's commercial success. The true box office test will be when the movie premiers in the U.S. May 27th.
So what is the real deal with this film? Why all the talk and the odd reactions? Well let me try to explain to you what I think is happening. First of all this film has taken an unusual long time to be released. It was actually suposed to debut at last year's festival, but Malick and the film's producers backed out days before the festival apparently due to some additional tweaking that Malick still felt necessary. Because of this, the buzz and the expectations for this film had been growing and growing, slowly but vastly. To the point that when the movie finally premiered this week, those great expectations were to some, a big disappointment.
The audience's applause after the film was finished was rather short, only a couple of minutes, in comparison to the 10-15 minutes applause that a well liked film is usually given. Such was the case of the silent film that critics are raving about, The Artist (which is the subject of an upcoming blog). Not only was there a minimal applause interval, but there was booing and mock whistling. That's right, the audience was very divided with their thoughts on this film, and by the sound of it, not very positive thoughts.
All this controversy, good or bad, is already a good enough reason to watch this film, and then come to your own conclusions. Aside from the fact that it's sure to be a very well made and meticulously crafted film masterminded by an Academy Award nominated director ( in 1998 Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' was nominated for best film), so we know for a fact, that we are dealing with a talented and well respected filmmaker. Malick obviously knows how to play the game and make his films succeed. So is all this part of his master plan strategy?
So why be so mysterious and evasive? It is a custom in Cannes and in most Top Film festivals around the world, that the Filmmakers be present in the premieres of their films, to present the film and for the Q&A session following the screening. That is part of the charm of attending a festival; meeting the filmmaker is special privilege that you get, a delightful festival bonus! When "The Tree of Life" finished, the spotlight focused of an empty chair reserved for Malick, this visual alone is kind of eerie, our subconscious automatically imagines the worst: Is he late? is he ok? Is he missing? or perhaps is he even dead?... or even worse... Is he saying that he doesn't care what the Cannes audience thinks about his film? Is he being indifferent to his public that for so long waited to see this film? Whatever his reasons may be, it certainly got a pretty big buzz going around the South of France! Was this all done on purpose?
Actors Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain took the spotlight instead of Malick, and led the press conference where, along with the other producers of the film, for the first time in a public setting, gave insight on shooting this film and tried to explain the long process of making this film. When asked about why Malick was a no show, the producers answered with a simple "...Terrence is very shy...". Come on! Are they serious? What do you think? Was this all a publicity stunt to call attention and controversy for this film?
