Review of The Fountain (2006) by Horens. — 21 Nov 2006

I was lucky enough today to be able to catch The Fountain at the film festival downtown. To start off, I have always been a huge Aronofsky fan, I introduced my friends to Pi and Requiem, and they are two of my favourite movies.

From The Fountain's inception in the early 2000's, I have followed all of its foibles and developmental issues. The script was originally approved with Pitt and Blanchett to star in the leading roles.

Pitt left to film Troy and the project was thrown on the back burner. In 2004 the film re-emerged with a budget half of the original and was cast with Jackman and Weisz. As is expected when one follows things for such a long time, excitement builds and there is always the wish for what you are about to experience to be spectacular.

This is one of those instances where one is awestruck and that excitement has not been crushed by the feeling of disappointment. Without a doubt, The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky is one of the best films I have seen this year, if not one of the best films of the decade.

Future viewings and time will tell if the latter holds true. I'm not even sure where to begin, essentially the plot is set in three different time periods, with Jackman playing a conquistador, a modern scientist/doctor, and a intergalactic voyager all while trying to find a way for Weisz to live as she is terminally ill.

The visuals in The Fountain are dazzling. The cinematography is some of the best I have ever seen in my life. The shots are all perfect and the lighting immaculate. Aronofsky seems to have gone with mostly centered shots, which may sound dull at first glance, however, they most definitely are not.

It is not as gimmicky or manipulative as Requiem or even Pi were, but the visuals could take your breath away. They are that stunning. To make things even more impressive, they chose not to use CGI for much of the film and instead filmed chemical reactions and formations on petri dishes and were able to extrapolate that into fantastical imagery.

As far as the acting goes, this is without a doubt the best work of Hugh Jackman and while Rachel Weisz is also very good, it is mainly Jackman that carries the movie as he is the lead role. I actually enjoyed the rest of the supporting cast even in their small roles.

Specifically, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, and Cliff Curtis. The musical score is just another thing on its own. Clint Mansell, having collaborated in the past for both Pi and Requiem for a Dream creates a most ethereal musical score.

The Kronos Quartet, who had the theme song for the movie Requiem for a Dream, entitled Lux Aeterna, and Scottish post rockers Mogwai fill out most of this blissful soundtrack. The music meshes wonderfully with the movie even though there are, three different periods so to speak.

Furthermore, the explosions in music, re: Mogwai and the whole post-rock genre completely gels and interlaces with the revelations experienced and ideas expressed within the film. I won't reveal too much as to what unfolds in the movie, however, it is a beautiful story of love, and what one discovers about himself and the world in this quest of undying love.

There are so many facets, so many nooks and cranies that this film dares to explore all at once in such majestic fashion it is truely unbelievable. It connects emotionally with the viewer, my heart started palpitating at various points and near the very end my eyes watered up for a good five minutes.

Aronofsky explores my ideas and themes in this movie, though the main ones I think are acceptance and duality. The movie is incessantly deep and heavy and therefore requires repeated viewings for sure.

Those of you who have seen Pi, this is in many ways a sister movie to that. Just as Pi attempts to understand natural surroundings and life through mathematics, The Fountain follows suit but on the path of spirituality and philosophy.

In closing, I still require many hours to ponder the ideas in this movie, in fact I have been watching the trailer nonstop since I got home. Aronofsky possesses immense testicular fortitude to be able to make a film like this for wide release.

He has my utmost respect for attempting such an ambitious film that has come across to me at least as highly successful.