How do you condense the story of the universe into just 45 minutes? Well, you need:
- Poetic and vague voiceover narration from Brad Pitt
- Beautiful images
- A keen ear for music to match to said images, and
- To be Terrence Malick
I think this mostly works. It really does aim to encompass as much as it can in less than an hour, all with the patient pacing most Malick films have. It makes for an interesting experience. Sometimes, it feels a little too abstract, but other moments are quite powerful.
Still, it feels like a companion piece to Tree of Life, and almost like an extended version of that film's birth of the universe sequence. I don't think it's nearly as powerful as that sequence in that film, but it scratches a similar itch. Parts near the end reminded me a little of Koyaanisqatsi, too. It's also not nearly as good an exploration of Planet Earth and its inhabitants as that iconic documentary is.
But for any grievances I have, this documentary/art film is still very impressive. I know something would have been lost from having watched it at home, too, instead of an IMAX screen, so I'm willing to be a little more generous when it comes to rating this.
