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hyped garbage

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey) travels to the Aokigahara forest in Japan where people go to commit suicide. There, he encounters Takumi Nakamura (Ken Watanabe). The movie also shows his troubled marriage to Joan Brennan (Naomi Watts).Director Gus Van Sant delivers a ponderous journey of self-discovery. Neither timeline is that compelling. The troubled marriage lacks energy which ends in a silly surprise reveal. The walk in the forest is only that while the audience waits for the inevitable reveal. This felt much longer than its running time.

Over recent years, several reviewers have mentioned finding the reviews and critical reactions given by the Academy and Festival critics - for mainstream and other titles, to be just about worthless. "Trees" is a reasonable case in point. While Mad Max and the like, are hailed way above their station, thoughtful life-affirming works are being thrown away – some have begun to question these baseless critics.Chris Sparling (Buried 2010) with 'Sea of Trees', has written a thoughtful study about the places the mind goes when overcome by grief. The entire impact of this movie is fully engrossing. The performances, script, direction - the hauntingly beautiful cinematography by Danish documentary maker Kasper Tuxen, the artistic production design, all wrapped up in a score by modern symphonics composer Mason Bates, offers much to be admired.It's an exhausting experience for the thoughtful, patient viewer. At first, this looked like it was about to be yet another story unfolding in flash backwards/forwards mode - that often leaves you with little resolution. Thankfully, here, the pieces fit together in a rather unexpected way. It's slightly reminiscent of an earlier, now forgotten, Ben Hecht story "Miracle in the Rain" yet, also entirely different in overall tone. Mathew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe are perfect as the strangers brought together in the valley of death. It's good to see lovely Naomi Watts used to good advantage in a role worthy of her professionalism. For those who like to think and feel their entertainment, this is a must. If depressed or burdened by grief you might not be so drawn to its topic. Still, it's all first class – regardless of the somewhat superficial festival crowds indifference.

Director Gus van Sant is well known for touching dramas such as the Oscar winning "Good Will Hunting" and this offering is one of his most underrated films. Following a grief-stricken widower who wanders around an isolated forest with a mysterious stranger, the film takes a hard look at what led our protagonist to where he is and also gives insight into accepting death, love and the process of grief.With only three core players in the cast, the setting of the forest, Aokigahara, in Tokyo we really spend most of the time with the characters of Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey) and Nakamura Takumi (Ken Watanabe) while we are provided with flashbacks that outline the relationship between Arthur and his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts).Matthew McConaughey's performance as Arthur is an enigma when we first him as we follow him when heading into Aokigahara. We learn early on that Arthur is an academic professor; specifically a science instructor. While Arthur may not have too much trouble applying his intelligence to his students, the same cannot be said of his treatment of his wife, Joan, which is a tumultuous roller-coaster at best. As the story progresses we are given insight into his life with Joan which comes off as loving and happy until we see the two argue when left alone and it's clear there are issues with their marriage. There may have been love in the relationship at first, but the marriage is clearly troubled except in the fate of imminent tragedy we see how devoted Arthur really is to Joan despite how angry he and Joan have been towards each other. McConaughey taps into Arthur's hidden sadness by slowly revealing the reason he has come to the forest, his actions are equally reckless as Arthur wallows in grief; unable to cope with how to process his feelings. The film's climactic reveal of Joan's passing absolutely packs an emotional punch as McConaughey pours his heart out in how Arthur feels that he did a disservice to his wife while she was alive, but learns from Watanabe's Takumi that Joan's spirit is with him despite how upset he had been with her in the past and with himself.Supporting players Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts also bring their best to the story as they are integral to the Arthur's journey. 1. Watanabe as Takumi is first introduced as a rambling lost soul in the forest, just as lost as Arthur is. As he travels along with Arthur, Takumi begins to probe into Arthur's past though the latter is reluctant to divulge much and just wants to die. Takumi's persistence pays off as Arthur's kindness prolongs Takumi's own wish to die (and begins to undermine Arthur's own death wish). We don't learn until late in the film why Takumi's wistful encouragements about Joan's after-death presence end up so true. 2. Naomi Watts's performance is used sparingly, but provides the film's ending gut-punch. As Joan, Watts is smart and sophisticated as she is an academic like her husband, but she is plagued with demons. Despite her and Arthur's academic education, she is jealous of her husband's past success and to cope with her frustration with Arthur, Joan becomes an alcoholic. Arthur is quick to blame Joan for her behavior while she points the finger right back at his lack of affection or interest in her feelings. When Joan becomes sick, we start to see how little both Joan and Arthur really know about each other. We get to see them banter back and forth trying to learn about each other, but tragedy cuts their potential happiness short. The audience gets to share in Arthur's grief at losing Joan, but also get to see him change and feel a closeness to his late wife that didn't exist while she was alive.The narrative does take some time to get moving as the camera tracks Matthew McConaughey through the forest and little of the plot is revealed. Once Ken Watanabe's Takumi is introduced and also the flashbacks to Arthur and Joan's marriage commences, the story does get more interesting and gets to the heart of why McConaughey's Arthur is in Aokigahara. It's easy to stay stone-faced for the majority of the run-time, the tears will start to well up as Arthur pours his heart out to Takumi and then learning how Joan died finally hits hard especially for anyone who has had such a tragic loss.

Excellent movie that makes you really think about how life has many twists and turns and sometimes can be pretty rough for a while, and yet as we persevere we eventually see why things happen in our lives the way that they do. Our lives are really a series of unique tests that are individually tailored to each of us so that we can gain useful and crucial experience that helps us grow and be able to deal with each next step we take on our journey of life.The movie has a lot of parallels with Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life: Think of the Japanese man, Takumi Nakamura, that Arthur Brennan meets in the forest as It's a Wonderful Life's Clarence the Angel who jumps off the bridge right as George Bailey is almost ready to jump off, because he knows that George will instinctively jump off to save him, instead of taking his own life. Takumi and Arthur's subsequent conversations and journey trying to find their way back to the trail/parking lot is a lot like George Bailey in the end wanting to get back to his life that he hadn't previously thought of as being anything close to a wonderful life. Very last scene of It's a Wonderful Life is the written message George Bailey receives from Clarence in a copy of Tom Sawyer that states. " No man's life is a failure who has friends." Near the end of Sea of Trees Arthur receives the book Hansel and Gretel in which there is a message from the Takumi that has the season and color that is Matthew's wife's favorite season and color.