Terrence Malick's Tree of Life wins Palme d'Or

at the Cannes film festival

a merit shared by other Americans such as Orson Welles, Francis Ford Copolla, Robert Altman, Scorsese, David Lynch, the Coen Bros., and Quentin Tarantino

(...and...ahem, Michael Moore *jumps to avoid tomatoes*)

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And “The Tree Of Life” takes the top prize. Uneven, but unlike any film at Cannes this year or ever. As Jury head Robert De Niro put it, “Most of us felt the movie was terrific.” But why did “The Tree of Life” win the top prize exactly? They jury head would not fully entertain the question.

“I can’t go into all the details, but we felt that it was a film that in its scope and its intentions was the best fit for the Palme d’Or,” De Niro said. “This decision was difficult because the other films were also very good, albeit very different. We had to find a compromise. There were some intense debates over a number of films

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Good job, Cannes jury. The Tree of Life wasn’t my favorite film in this year’s Competition, but it was the most notable combination of ambition and accomplishment, and that’s arguably what ought to win an award as weighty as the Palme d’Or. As much as I love Drive, I’d rather see world cinema’s greatest honor go to a visionary, borderline avant-garde work (see also last year’s deserving champ, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) than to an expert riff on B movies of yore. [Leauxgan's note: Zzzzzing, burns, dun'nit Tarantino?]

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