New website for Terrence Malick's 'The Tree of Life'

Though most people grouse about Terrence Malick's latest movies, his fifth movie (in a career spanning nearly 40 years), The Tree of Life, will be premiering at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and opening in the United States in May. As always, the nature of the movie is a bit of a secret, though it's said to be a kind of coming-of-age story set in the 1950s. It's from an original screenplay by Malick, and stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, and Fiona Shaw.

The movie's new official site is equally mysterious. It gives viewers a choice between "the mother's way" and "the father's way." Each way gives the viewer ten clips from the film that last only a few tantalizing seconds apiece. However, it's clear from these small shots that Malick is still one of the great living masters, with a unique understanding of a story's and a character's relationship with the physical world. The new movie is sure to polarize true cinema buffs, as many great works of art often do.