The Fountain (2006)

the fountain on blu-ray

AWESOME! This movie looks amazing. We have a PS3 to watch blu-ray discs on and they look AMAZING. September 3, 2008

I keep trying but still......

I have an open mind and I do get the metaphysical-epic-universal-across time love story but...I've seen this movie twice now and I still don't get all of it. The cinematography was really very good, but I found the transition to the different time periods jarring. I enjoyed the 16th century story and was wishing there was a bit more of that. I still have no idea where the future time period was heading. My friends and family were not left comtemplating the different scenes or meanings...we were just trying to make some sense of it overall. August 19, 2008

Beautiful

A beautiful film-absolutely beautiful.

Please, if you watch this, you must approach it with an open mind and look at it as a work of art, for like any other work of art, it leaves you with plenty of opportunity to interpret it in a variety of ways and requires more than a little mental interaction. Rarely have I seen a film where the visual consistency and mindfulness of aesthetics so prominently played a role in the unfolding of the story.

Be warned, however. This is not a movie to sit down with a bag of popcorn and have a good time. This is an artistic statement worthy of study and contemplation. I have a great deal of trouble envisioning someone in the hopes of simple escapism sitting through The Fountain because it really is fairly demanding. But I hope you'll believe me when I say it is most rewarding if you commit to letting it unfold without judgment. Let it finish before you make up your mind. Like most anything of value, it must be reflected upon as a unified whole, and trust me, you'll find yourself thinking about it long after the initial viewing.

Just beautiful.

~Scott William Foley, author of Dr. Nekros: The Tragedian (Volume I, Episode I) August 13, 2008

'The Last Man' resurected as 'The Fountain' (spoilers embedded!)

I have finally gotten around to watching Darren Aronofsky's latest film 'The Fountain' (originally titled 'The Last Man'). I had heard that this film was, according to Aronofsky, something that he had been 'building up' to since his stunningly 'toxic' 'Requiem for a Dream' and while 'The Fountain' is 'light years' away from 'Requiem' (although Aronofsky continues to employ the 'focus' of the eye, both interior and exterior in both films), it certainly expands upon Aronofsky's creative visual scope and his determination as a director to involve his actors in the physicality (and just as crucial in the 'mentality') of their roles.

According to the major critiques on this site, the majority of the reviewers didn't 'understand' the film, and I would gather that part of that is the intentional visual effects that Aronofsky has utilized through the multiple 'allusive' aspects 'contained' in The Fountain'. This is shown in Aronofsky's repeated questioning of the issues of time, and the 'limitations' of the human condition (that we are 'bound' in a mortal body with a 'linear' conception of our life). I have read some comparisons with Andrei Tarkovsky's films, particularly 'Solaris', and I would agree that Aronofsky is closer to 'approximating' the interior/exterior 'visual reflections' of time, space and spirituality that Tarkovsky envisioned, not only in 'Solaris', but in all of his films. Many people do not 'get' or 'understand' Tarkovsky's cinematic vision either as it was not intended to supply firm answers (or definitive conclusions) towards these themes, as he was more interested in exploring their poetic possibilities in film and questioning the 'reality' of the world of the characters (which is a 'reflection' of how we emplace and view these 'realities' also).

While I am not yet ready to place Aronofsky on the same 'cinematic plane' as Tarkovsky, 'The Fountain' certainly deserves to be recognized as a creative, ambitious cinematic 'accounting' of a meld of 'science-fiction' and human spirituality. After watching the film on DVD, I have to say I am disappointed that I did not see 'The Fountain' on the big screen, because visually its effects are astoundingly hypnotic and beautiful. One bonus to viewing the DVD 'version' is that I learned that the visual effects, the nebulous backgrounds, were created by shooting micro-photos of reactive substances in a Petri dish (which were then merged onto the film) rather than using computer-generated imagery, which allowed my admiration for Aronofsky's visual attention to the overall 'scheme' within 'The Fountain' to expand even further. These applications within 'The Fountain' of physical and visual 'chemical reactions' also put me in mind (or is that sight?) of the great independent American filmmaker Stan Brakhage's creative use of elemental compounds within his cinematic 'explorations'.

I have been speaking of Aronofsky's cinematic scope or broad explorations of the human conception of time, space (in which our bodies occupy), and spirituality in 'The Fountain' and while the film 'seems' to go to many realms, (16th century Spain, 'present' laboratories, 'outer space'), what is visually `contained' as the 'primary focus' in the film are the two main characters Thomas (Hugh Jackman), and Izzy (Rachel Weisz). Indeed, it is through the 'states' of these characters that the film is 'imagined', as Izzy has composed a story (imagining Thomas as the Conquistador?), and Thomas (through reading and hearing it) is 'imagining' it (and attempting to 'finish' it). My interpretation of this film is Thomas's struggle with accepting Izzy's mortal state, and therefore attempting to 'bring her back' by a 'journey' that is portrayed in the outer/inner reaches of time and space (this is particularly pronounced in the films lighting 'entrances' from light to dark and vice versa). Since he cannot accomplish 'conquering' Izzy's mortal fate through science, he 'reaches' (in an interior 'vision') to the myths of religion (symbolized in the Tree, the lotus posture). In the 'end' we see Thomas physically letting go, and burying the seed at Izzy's grave (a larger reference to the sphere i.e. world) that will (may?) continue the cycle of life.

The only reason I have given this film four stars is that while I believed Hugh Jackman gave an outstanding performance (particularly in 'sacrificing' his musculature and his hair), I thought that Rachel Weisz's performance was shaky in parts of the film. I still believe that Aronofsky 'pulled' the best out of her role (which is evident if you watch her in the featurette's 'takes'). All together this is a beautiful, inventive example of American filmmaking by Aronofosky and if he did not make another film after 'The Fountain' (hopefully this will not be the case) it would 'stand' as his cinematic masterpiece. August 11, 2008

"Death As An Act Of Creation"~ Birth, Rebirth And The Tree Of Life On The Journey To Xibalba

Where does one begin with a film such as the mind-boggling '06 film `The Fountain?' After viewing this extremely esoteric, non-linear journey through time and space one is left in a vague stupor, experiencing feelings of deep spirituality and unfathomable profundity all wrapped in a timeless universe of eternal beginnings and endings. Either that or one is bored out of their mind.

Fortunately for me I fall into the first category. Director and writer Darren Aronofsky has graced us with a masterpiece work that will most likely never receive the acceptance and audience it surely desires, but it will have a following that will always adore this film.

I guess it's time to sit down and re-vamp my personal list of all-time favorite films. I certainly have to find a spot for this one. August 10, 2008

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