Yeah.  It’s that little known movie with Hugh Jackman that follows three parallel story lines in a metaphysical tale of life, death, and rebirth.  Jackman plays a research scientist, desperately trying to find a cure for his wife’s terminal brain tumor in the main story, a conquistador searching for the tree of life in one sub-plot, and a perplexing bald, yoga-guy traveling through space in a huge bubble with a giant tree in the other sub-plot.  The movie danced back and forth between the three, not necessarily in chronological order even within the plot lines.  When the credits rolled, I looked over at Sweetie for the words I knew were coming:

“What the f**k was that about?” he asked.

I could tell halfway through the film that he was going to hate it. Sweetie doesn’t mind “deep” or “profound”, but he prefers a more subtle hand.  This movie was almost Kubrick-esque in its combination of philosophy and obscurity.  I might have liked it, but it felt to me like it had been edited with a dull machete.  The Spanish plot lacked motivation.  Where did that Inquisition theme go, and what is with the weird exchange between the conquistador and the queen?  Is she his lover?  How will finding the tree of life allow them to “be together forever”?  And what’s with the bald dude in the bubble who keeps whispering to the tree?  Yeah, I get it that the tree is supposed to be “her”, his wife in the one plot, and the queen in the other, but why are they floating to their death/rebirth in the stars?  And why is the dying wife’s  unfinished book written in longhand without so much as a strikethrough?  How come her first draft is so perfect when it takes me nearly five to go to press?

My verdict?  Eh.  The internet is full of glowing reviews about the beauty and significance of this deep film.  Mine won’t be one of them.  Two stars.