'The Tree Of Life:' See A New Clip, Sample Tracks From The Score

The premiere of Terrence Malick's new film The Tree of Life is only days away. (May 16 in Cannes; it opens for real on May 27.) This is only his fifth feature in a career that spans forty-plus years, so forgive us for being a little bit (ok, extremely) excited. All involved have been quite good at retaining some of the film's mystery, even with a trailer out there, and a couple of websites that have steadily offered many peeks at the story.

All we really know is that it is a multi-generational drama in which Sean Penn plays the adult son of Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, and that there are grandly cosmic themes wrapped around that relatively small tale. You can get a taste of those big themes and some of the movie's time-spanning ideas in the trailer and from the official site. But there is also a new clip from the film that shows some of the minor family dynamics, and if the trailer just wasn't enough you'll want to check it out.

The space below this sentence is where an embed would typically go, but EW presents the clip and never does working embeds, so you'll have to go there. What you'll see is a scene with Jessica Chastain and kids; the idea is that Brad Pitt's character (that is, dad) is leaving on a trip, and that's a good thing. Ouch. One of the children is carrying around a lizard, and lest we need to remind you, there are other lizards in the film, too. Big ones.

Aditionally, the Alexandre Desplat score for the film will be released on May 24, but Amazon has a page up for the release, and you can stream previews of all the tracks now. I've only sampled a couple, because I'd much rather get my first real taste of the score in concert with the actual film, but for those really champing at the bit for any dashes of new Malick, maybe this will help make the wait for opening day pass by with more ease.

Finally, here's the relatively dull international poster for the film.