Load of rubbish!!

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

What an annoying movie. Spoiler Alert! Wonderful acting with a thin script that didn't really make sense. A mother is catatonic and dysfunctional after her husband dies while her kids cope and move forward in their own ways. When the tree roots of the huge tree outside their house damage their plumbing she meets a nice man who owns a plumbing supply store, hires her to take care of the office and pulls her our of her depression. While the daughter believes the father's spirit is in the tree and the mother and a brother find comfort in the tree, the tree's roots continue to threaten their lives by splitting their water storage cistern. When the new boyfriend comes with a crew to cut it down, the daughter climbs it and refuses to come down. The mother sides with the daughter, loosing the boy friend, and when a cyclone topples the tree into the house, she looses that too. IF she had been an adult and helped her daughter deal with reality, accept death and go forward with life, she could have had a house and probably a new husband. Instead she looses the house, her job presumably and boyfriend, and appears to ride off into the sunset cheerfully. Why was that a good outcome? Her oldest son, who had held the family together while she couldn't get out of bed, was off to college. The daughter was a wonderful actress but she wasn't a wise child helping the mother out of her grief, and the mother didn't help her family. If the tree was a metaphor for the father, his spirit wasn't doing any favors by destroying their home. Good acting, beautiful scenery but pointless story. The mother behaved badly after her husband dies, and continues to behave badly after the tree destroys the house.

Story of the 'The Tree' takes place in the country side of Australia. It's plot around Dawn O'Neil who is a mother of 4 children struggling to recover with the unexpected loss of her husband. When the father die the happiness of the family seems to ran far away and Dawn for months tries to understand the reality and put everything back together for her kids. But the youngest 8 year old daughter Simone fails to adapt to the situation and starts to believe that her father speaks to her via the big old tree in their garden. And when this tree becomes too unstable and threatens the house and the family Dawn has to decide if to chop the tree down amidst her daughter's objection. The Tree has a good flow. It's filled with little events which defines the O'Neil family and how they try to cope up with the loss of their father and the protection and income. Alongside the main attention is given towards the giant tree which holds a significant value in the family and its history. Soon the viewer starts to feel like the tree is actually a family member which keeps the family in bound to each other. And it does it for good reasons. Dawn's character is a strong one. And Charlotte Gainsbourge portrays it quite skillfully. And the performance by the little Morgana Davies who plays the sweet yet stubborn Simone does a wonderful job as well. Overall the acting in the movies is quite raw and closer to reality. Thus brings viewer in to more realism with the whole situation. The Tree most of the time is a quite movie. With little score and few lines in between it will put the viewer in to the middle of a lonely place. But don't let that loneliness to gulp you down. Because good movies don't make much noise. My reviews at flickshout.tk

This film is about a family that griefs the sudden death of the husband / father, as he collapsed while driving."The Tree" is an intensely introspective film, as it attempts to sculpt the emotional states, thoughts and feelings of the family members after the husband's death. As the husband's car hit a tree next to their house, the rest of the family have a special attachment to this tree. This attachment become central to the plot, and it requires much empathy to understand the characters' actions and motivation. The wife uses the tree for comfort, while the daughter Simone uses the tree as a replacement for her father. Even though the portrayals of the family's internal world are excellent, "The Tree" still suffers from being too slow and too plain for an average viewer.

After the sudden death of her husband, his wife and four children try to get on with life in the bush of Northern Australia. It could be a story overwhelmed by emotion, but yet it play the emotionally side with more subtlety. The family live in an old house with an enormous Morton Bay fig next to it and it's this tree that firstly with the young daughter and then with other family members where they gain the idea that somehow the spirit of their loved one is inside. The film follows the family as they move on, but without forgetting the tree and protecting it at all costs.Thought the film has a potentially supernatural idea, it doesn't play out that way, in fact it's quite the opposite. The notion that the tree contains the spirit is quite charming and leads to some wonderful encounters for various members of the family. Grief is dealt with in many ways and for these people this is how they deal with it. The cast is very fine: Charlotte Gainsbourg is very good as the mother, she is charismatic and a joy to watch. As is the daughter Simone, played wonderfully by a superb young actor, she really is something, creating a funny, touching and realistic portrayal of a young girl who is dealing with the loss of her Dad. But all the cast is fine creating a truly real feeling to events that occur.The film also works for it's use of nature. Australian films set outside the city are known for their great use of the landscape and this is no exception. Stunning landscapes and skyscapes fill the screen and there are other wonderful moments including natures creations, such as the fruit bat that flies into the kitchen or the frogs in the toilet and the families attempts to get rid of them. And let's not forget the tree. It is a huge presence in the film, literally and metaphorically and could in it's own way be a character, it is a imposing, glorious and wonderful creation and of course paramount to the story.The film ends with a bang, but a positive one, a situation that leaves the family or gives the family a chance to move on, it is almost a relief and at the same time quite touching. The film as a whole is a highly enjoyable one, and that doesn't tug on the heart strings with it's story, instead presenting itself with humour, charm and beauty.Find more of my reviews at my site iheartfilms.weebly.com