By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Donna Murphy | Ellen Burstyn | Hugh Jackman | Mark Margolis | Rachel Weisz | Stephen McHattie
Country: united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 115
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/
Bruce says: “THE FOUNTAIN, a barely likeable film, is an overly ambitious opus about love and death that takes place in the past, the present and future. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play Isabel and Tomas in the days of the Spanish Inquisition; they also play Tommy and Izzy Creo, he a scientist and she, a writer of an unfinished book entitled The Fountain. Tommy is doing research on brain tumors in rhesus monkeys, racing the clock to come up with a cure for his wife’s brain tumor. Isabel has commanded Tomas to go to the New World to find the tree of everlasting life, the tree Adam and Eve left behind when they fled the Garden of Eden. That briefly outlines the past and present. The future is best left to the reader’s imagination although I will
drop a few hints about the gothic look of gnarled branches and ugly moss encapsulated in a glass bubble. It is not a future anyone is likely to aspire to.
“The Mayans are the ones who hold the secret to eternal life but they unfortunately encrypted all their mysticism. Finding the forbidden pyramid where the sacred tree grows is an onerous task even for such an accomplished warrior as Tomas. Meanwhile back in the present, Tom is driving his co-workers mad as he attempts to work himself ragged to ‘find the cure.’ His boss (Ellen Burstyn) is also a friend and she begs him to spend precious time with his dying wife rather than wiling away the hours in his isolated lab.
“Aronofsky creates an alluring mood in old Spain and the modern new world. He also tells his story in a way that leads one to believe there will be an important payoff at the end. Such foolish optimism lends credibility to some rather far-fetched moments, making the film more amusing and enjoyable than it deserves to be. Jackman and Weisz both have screen presence which gives Aronofsky a much-needed hand.
“THE FOUNTAIN would have been a more satisfying film had the segments about the future been edited away, leaving the past and present each of which hold enough story to get the message across. The Spanish segments would be much more effective and believable were the dialogue in Spanish rather than English. Keeping everything in English seems a bit passé since so many working directors fearlessly mix languages to lend realism to their material. During the film I was wondering whether Aronofsky was influenced by Paul Simon’s ‘Boy in the Bubble’ as THE FOUNTAIN features both a bubble and a dying nebula in the sky.
“A huge fan of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, I hope Aronofsky gets back on track for his next venture. I remain suspicious of his script writing abilities. His filmmaking talent is indisputable; evidently his choices on how to employ it are not. 3 cats.”