Texas director in running for top Cannes prize

CANNES, France — History could be made today, when the Cannes film festival jury hands out the Palme d'Or. Austinite Terrence Malick could become the first Texas director to take home the festival's top prize.

Despite a mixed reaction at the first press screening here on Monday, critical support has been growing for Malick's "The Tree of Life." The annual critics poll conducted by British magazine Screen International has it among the top four movies of the 20 in competition. The others are "The Artist," "La Havre" and "The Kid With a Bike."

Many critics viewed Pedro Almódovar's "The Skin I Live In," which premiered Thursday, as a disappointment. And only four more contenders were scheduled to screen by late Saturday: "Drive," starring Ryan Gosling; "This Must Be the Place," starring Sean Penn; French director Radu Mihailenu's "The Source"; and the latest from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."

The Palme d'Or is the most prestigious festival award in the world. And a victory for "The Tree of Life" would help cement Malick's already lofty status among cinematic auteurs. But the Palme does not guarantee financial success overseas.

Since 2000, a victory in Cannes has meant little in the U.S. market, according to a new survey by The Hollywood Reporter. Though Lars von Trier's 2000 winner "Dancer in the Dark" took in $42.2 million worldwide, it grossed only $4.2 million in the States. Nanni Moretti's 2001 winner "The Son's Room," had a box-office total of $16 million worldwide, but only $1 million in the U.S,, and the list goes on and on. The only two exceptions are the 2002 winner, "The Pianist," which took home three Oscars and $120 million in receipts worldwide, and "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's incendiary documentary of 2004 about the campaign on terror by former President George W. Bush. With $222.5 million in worldwide ticket sales, it's the biggest box-office hit this century for a Palme winner.

Still, any prize for "The Tree of Life" could help Malick's box-office prospects. The allusive, visually beautiful movie does not follow a linear narrative structure, nor can it be easily summarized for marketing purposes.

The film, shot in Smithville and Austin, deals with a dysfunctional 1950s family in Waco, and it re-creates scenes that any children of that era will recognize: the freewheeling bicycle rides on summer days, the aimless wanderings, the kicking of tin cans, the roughhousing among brothers on front yards. But it also is bookended by tragedy.

It also takes about a 20-minute detour to depict the birth of the cosmos, the development of life on Earth, the destruction of the dinosaurs and the rise of humans. Because of this, some critics have compared "The Tree of Life" to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." The comparison isn't too far off, especially since Malick hired some of the visual effects experts who worked on the science-fiction classic.

But its heart lies very much in the real world, with the story of the O'Brien family, headed by actors Brad Pitt and newcomer Jessica Chastain.

As he has in the past, Malick uses voice-overs to make commentary and raise questions as the story of the O'Brien family unfolds. In the case of "The Tree of Life," Chastain provides most of the voice-overs, sometimes pleading directly to God for guidance after a death.

In a risky move, Pitt plays an unlikable father who bullies his family at the dinner table and seems embittered that his quest for the American Dream is somehow going off the rails. In the philosophical Malick universe, Pitt's character represents nature — a character who'll do what is necessary to survive.

Chastain's character, however, represents what Malick considers grace. She embraces love, nurtures her family and seems to float through the world, at least until tragedy strikes.

"The Tree of Life" is by far Malick's most ambitious movie. But it remains to be seen whether the Cannes jury will recognize that ambition with the Palme today.

Working in Malick's favor is the presence of an American, Robert De Niro, as head of the jury. Other key jury members who might side with Malick include actress Uma Thurman and Norwegian writer Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and actress Liv Ullmann. As Malick's luck would have it, one of Ullmann's novels is titled "Grace."

Other jury members include actor Jude Law; French director Olivier Assayas; Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi; Argentine actress and producer Martina Gusman; Hong Kong director Johnnie To; and Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, a director from Chad.

It's customary for the winners at the closing ceremony of the Cannes film festival to appear at a news conference immediately afterward. It's also customary that the festival alerts the winners in advance so that they can be sure to be in Cannes for the awards presentation. It's still not known, however, whether the notoriously press-shy Malick will make an appearance if he wins.