Review of The Fountain (2006) by Michaels. — 23 Nov 2006

Just perfect. But make no mistake, the film is just relentless. Relentlessy cheesy, deep, melodramatic, over-the-top, unflinching, unashamed. There were two specific moments in particular, where all the people sitting directly around me in the theatre started laughing.

One of those moments, was the climax. Had there not been "intellectuals", artists, art-house filmgoers, mainstream filmgoers or immature emotionally undeveloped people in the audience, I would have enjoyed it even more without people around me laughing at the brilliance onscreen.

That being said, it definitely felt like Aronofsky deliberately went out of the way to make a film that very specifically panders to not a single demographic or crowd. It completely depends on the person.

But generally, I think most artists intellectuals and art-house cinemaphiles (and especially critics) will absolutely loathe this movie, because it is relentlessly emotional, and completely unashamed.

But the themes and concepts, the imagery, it is so cyclical, and all fits perfectly together. I can easily wait 6 more years for Aronofsky's next film, because then I know it'll be at least half as good as this incredibly moving piece of work.