The Fountain

I'd have to rate this one as definitely interesting, weird, and hard to follow. If you've seen some of Darren Aronofsky's other works, you might know what I mean. I've seen Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Those are both in the "unique" category for film. Especially when you're talking to the average movie-watcher. After seeing the trailer, I had this impression of a film where Hugh Jackman's character plays a different role in ten or so different centuries where he is fighting to save Rachel Weisz, who I'm assuming is his wife/gf/whatever. The trailer shows one time period where Jackman is a conquistador, another where he's a doctor and a third where he's this bald, monk-looking, futuristic guy. My impression is that this would be some time-machine or vampire-esque movie. Either he's traveling through time and living or he's immortal/undying and has been around for hundreds of years. Well I've always said going into movies with expectations is bad and it couldn't have proven more true than in this case. I'd have to say that this film was made to be experienced emotionally much more than viewed and analyzed logically. If you try the latter, things just won't make sense. Turns out there are only three time periods: The Past, The Present and The Future. There are definite connections between the past and the present, and the future and the present. However, tying all three together creates some problems. I could go into all the theories/assumptions, but I don't want to give too much away. Visually the film has some quite beautiful moments, however, I think sometimes the camera shots are a bit long. There were even moments where the music isn't quite done and it seems like a shot or visual effect is drawn out so the music could end. I could be totally wrong on this, but that's the way it seemed. There were also parts of the film that seemed to keep getting revisited. Now part of this could be simply because it was revealing more of the story. It's a bit like The Butterfly Effect in this aspect because you "watch the movie" and then more is revealed later. I would buy this reason, however, there's just not much to the movie. Visually and graphically the movie is rich while the story and plot are lacking. I'm pretty sure some people will be/are pretty worked up about some of the religious references. It starts off quoting from the book of Genesis in the Bible about when Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden. Later on, we see a Mayan priest holding a flaming sword which is once again referencing Genesis. There are a lot of Buddhist references and themes throughout. Didn't really bother me, but I'm sure others won't feel the same way. I would like to see this again, but don't want to pay another $5 to go see it in the theater. Luckily I had a chance to talk this over a bit with some people and got a few more ideas on what was going on. That pretty much just backed up my observation that the film is meant to be more like a work of art than a logical math problem. I'm not really sure how to recommend this one, expect to recommend it with caution. You'll either love or hate this. I'm not sure if there's much room for in-between.