Friday 25 January 2008

The Fountain

My God, I don't even know where to begin to trash this film. And this is the second film in a row that I've trashed that was fairly well reviewed. At least by the panderers on IMDB. Fuck them!

I can see what Darren Aronofsky was trying to do. I think I can. Okay...maybe not. Maybe I'm not that smart. I think he was specifically trying to keep the meaning behind the movie as ambiguous as possible. Or not. I'm confused. See what I mean?

The plot, such as it is, revolves around a doctor trying to cure his wife's cancer and save her life. But it's not that simple, because we also have the story of a Spanish conquistador trying to save the life of his queen. Oh, and a space traveler in the future heading to a dying star in an eco-bubble with the Tree of Life who is trying to come to terms with joining his dead wife in eternity. And all three stories have the same two main protagonists, played by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.

The story bops back and forth over the thousand years that span the three tales. Back and forth. For an eternity. At least it seemed that way.

Could it be the the story from the past about the conquistador is a fictional tale, written by the doctor's wife? Is the story from the future about the pod-man merely a dream that the doctor is having as he tries to cope with the death of his wife? Or are all three tales happening at separate times over the millennium, while also occurring concurrently? Time, space, life, death, loss, acceptance. All these themes are explored. Endlessly.

Wow. I think I just bored myself by typing all that.

That's mainly what the film was. An exercise in boredom. An exercise in boredom filmed inside a trippy, psychedelic petri dish.

I don't know how many times they showed the same scene of the doctor's wife asking him to come out and play in the first snow fall of the year. Each time it led someplace else, but damn did it become boring after the first 3 times. I'm finally agreeing with Slyde on this one. Time travel movies suck!

And I'm still not sold on the ending. All I know is that I was glad when the credits started.

One thing that made me happy was that Aronofsky dropped out of directing Watchmen, a movie that I am really excited about. I can't even begin to imagine where he would have taken us on that journey. At least Zack Snyder has shown an affinity for translating graphic novels to the big screen. I've only seen one Aronofsky film. This one. And it was an un-watchable piece of drek.

9 comments:

Bruce Johnson said...

Either this movie is really bad, or you are really off base. I am going to have to watch it now and see which is which. In general, I like Hugh Jackman and Time-Travel films....so this should be interesting.

Verdant Earl said...

In general, I also like Hugh Jackman and time-travel films. Not really positive this falls in the later, even though I did make that comment.

Maybe I was just in a bad mood.

badgerdaddy said...

Time travel films suck???

Back to the Future trilogy, Somewhere in Time, Time After Time, 12 Monkeys, The Jacket...

I'm just saying.

Oh, and I enjoyed The Fountain. One thing that surprised me hugely though - not sure if it's the same over there - it's only a little over 90 minutes long. Much as I liked it, this fucker goes on.

Verdant Earl said...

I did enjoy Time After Time. That was a good one, but only the first Back to the Future film was any good. The rest were horrid!

Elise said...

I loved Back To The Future!

I admitt time travel films can be a little um boring at times... Peggy Sue Got Married was difficult to get through.

I'll have to check this one out anyway just incase.

xx

Elise said...

ps: Love back to Slyde! xx

Verdant Earl said...

Peggy Sue Got Married was difficult to watch because of Nic Cage's ridiculous speaking pattern.

My opinion.

PS - Just Slyde? ;(

i am the diva said...

i loved the fountain, however - i may or may not have been under the influence of Mary Jane.

Verdant Earl said...

Sugar come by, and get me high.