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New Criterion Release Means You Can Now Spend Your Entire Life Watching The Tree of Life

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Did Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life ever really end? Or did you eventually just have to leave the room? Officially, the original cut of the film came in at 139 minutes, but if you’ve found yourself longing for even more of Malick’s sweeping drama about the beginning of creation and midcentury Americana and Sean Penn’s melancholy then Criterion is about to deliver for you in a big way. Not only will the Collection deliver 50 minutes of new footage, putting Tree at 188 minutes, but you’ll basically be getting an entirely new movie. Criterion’s technical director Lee Kline tells IndieWire that he worked in conjunction with Malick, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, sound editor Joel Dougherty, and more to create a new version of the film that includes new foley and sound effects created on a soundstage, a multi-track mix for the entire film, and new color grading (supervised by Lubezki) for the entire work, not just the new scenes. “I don’t really make new movies,” Kline told IndieWire, “and that was pretty much what we did.”

So not only will you get a restored version of the long-as-a-lifetime original cut of Tree of Life when Criterion releases it on September 11, you will get a 188-minute long companion film as well. So cash in all your vacation days, cinephiles. You’ve got a Terrence Malick movie to watch.

You Can Now Spend Your Entire Life Watching The Tree of Life