At least once a year, a trailer comes out for a movie that leaves you wondering, “What exactly is this about?” This year, it was the trailer for “The Tree of Life.”

While the coming attractions for the movie, and even the pre-released clips, are set to music and involve very little insight to the plot, “The Tree of Life” has been hailed as director Terrence Malick’s take on the meaning of life. The film follows Jack, the oldest son of Irish-Catholic parents, as he grows up and deals with questions about faith and existence and a complicated relationship with his father.

Brad Pitt, who plays Mr. O’Brien, the father of Jack, is sure to at the very least be nominated in a “Best Actor” category for what he has done with “The Tree of Life.” For the most part, audiences aren’t sure whether to love him or hate him, seeing that his behavior is erratic and his son in the movie is struggling with the same question.

Along with Pitt, stars like Sean Penn, who plays the older Jack, Jessica Chastain plays the motherly role in the film. Chastain has had miscellaneous parts before this year, but her role in the recently released movie “The Debt,” and as a quite but powerfully beautiful mother in “The Tree of Life” will cement her place on the Hollywood stage.

Although “The Tree of Life” is just as abstract as the trailer indicates, it has the same feel as the thought-provoking heavyweight “Crash.” At the very least, if it doesn’t get your brain moving, the cinematography is awe-inspiring enough that it is worth a watch.

— Corianne Egan