The Fountain

[Foxbat]

Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Starring Hugh Jackman & Rachel Weisz
Out now on DVD

Tom Creo is a man living three parallel lives that spans a thousand years. Each of his existences is faced with the same dilemma – how to save the life of the woman he loves (Weisz). Ultimately, he is forced to face the two struggles forever haunting Humanity – love and mortality.

Filled with mysticism and romance, Aranofsky guides us through a tale that becomes an odyssey - a search for the Tree Of Life in the Garden of Eden. Here lies the secret of immortality and the only chance Creo has to save his wife.

Heavily flawed and sometimes meandering, The Fountain is, nevertheless, utterly compulsive viewing with cinematography that is both imaginative and beautiful. If you watch this, be prepared to be a little bit confused but moved greatly by both the protagonists and their stunning surroundings. Also worth a mention is the evocative soundtrack gelling perfectly to the wonderful imagery. All in all a very fine audio-visual experience.

This movie seems to extract extreme views. Love it or hate it, there appears to be very little in between. Aranofsky tries to expose the raw heart of love in this film and perhaps he didn’t quite succeed but, quite simply, I loved this movie flaws and all.

[scalem X]

I felt like it had indeed ups and downs. Like fantasy and reality combined. I'm not a fan of the theme itself, so I was happy to see that at least there was not an awful lot of visual suffering involved.

[Allegra]

Sounds good and I like both Jackman and Weisz, will look out for DVD. Thanks, Foxbat.

[Specfiction]

I agree. It took me a day to decide whether I liked this movie or not. In synopsis, Fountain is intellectually a senseless story of pseudo mystical proportions. It is, however, so well shot, has incredible special effects, fantastic music, and tremendous acting--if only the story itself had been better it would have been a tremendous achievement.

BTW, another ambitious film of this type that did work for me was "What Dreams May Come" with Robin Williams--a much better film dealing with a difficult and psychological subject.

[tangaloomababe]

I loved this movie, sort of. I think the acting is great (HUgh of course) the story although there were moments of confusion, it was nevertherless totally absorbing but I have to say I hated the ending. Can anyone perhaps explain what I am missing here, maybe I have to watch it again. I just didnt get it.
I have a feeling this wont do so great at the box office, because it is a little out of the norm, it is still a very special movie.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by tangaloomababe

I loved this movie, sort of. I think the acting is great (HUgh of course) the story although there were moments of confusion, it was nevertherless totally absorbing but I have to say I hated the ending. Can anyone perhaps explain what I am missing here, maybe I have to watch it again. I just didnt get it.
I have a feeling this wont do so great at the box office, because it is a little out of the norm, it is still a very special movie.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE!!!

In my opinion and without giving too much away, Creo finally accepted the inevitable (as portrayed by his burying the seed on his wife's grave...meaning death gives to rebirth). The message really is that there is no easy way and there are no shortcuts. We live and then we die and if we are really lucky, we might experience some love in between.