Jeff at 2010-12-21 19:45:06:

The trailer alone shakes me to my core and almost brings me to tears. Not sure I can handle the whole running time without being reduced to a complete emotional cripple!

"The Thin Red Line" affected me in ways I care not to get into here.

Malick is terrifyingly good.

Mac at 2010-12-22 06:32:19:

I've heard (but cannot confirm) that there will be a separate IMAX film released in tandem with "The Tree of Life" that will reflect on the film's central theme.

Per Wilipedia: In an October 2008 interview, production designer Jack Fisk, a longtime Malick collaborator, suggested that the director is attempting something radical.[4] He also implied that details of the film are a close secret.[5] In early March 2009, visual effects artist Mike Fink revealed to Empire Magazine that he was working on scenes of prehistoric Earth for the film.[6] The similarity of the scenes Fink describes to descriptions of a hugely ambitious project entitled Q that Malick worked on soon after Days of Heaven has led to speculation that The Tree of Life is a resurrection of that abandoned project.[7] The website aintitcool.com has since reported that the prehistoric scenes are being filmed for a separate, IMAX-specific project "depicting the birth and death of the universe." That film is being described as "not narratively connected" to The Tree of Life; rather they are "thematically complementary pieces."[8]

Scott at 2010-12-22 07:58:13:

@Pete: This sounds like a pretty traditional narrative approach with two points of attack: With Sean Penn as the adult Jack going on a search for meaning that involves multiple flashbacks to young Jack, his family and especially his relationship with his father Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt). As always with Malick, it will be interesting to see how the story plays out.