The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky

The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky [+ favourites]

I will not rate this movie, nor will I give away spoilers. Lots of movies are meant to be artistic and those that are overly cryptic fail to address the simplicity of human emotion.

I have respected Darren's movies for a while now specifically because of Requiem for a Dream, but also Pi. Just like a song, sometimes you watch a movie or read a story and you know that it is done well is so many ways from so many angles that the director did not fluke out... which happens lots of times.

The Fountain has somewhat of a legacy behind it in the story of it being a project involving Brad Pitt, but Brad Pitt chose to ditch the project at the last minute and Darren eventually decided to go ahead with it but with much less money. Obviously the notoriety of Pitt will lend a lot more money to a production.

Keeping all that in mind, when you watch the Fountain, you see where Aronofsky wanted to create epic battles and powerful scenes... this is to amplify the simplicity of human emotion which is sometimes difficult to manage without the epic nature of large battles and violence.

The difficulty of creating such emotion using a low budget can be done using music... but only acute, well placed, well integrated music... music with a black screen at the right moment can create a confusion in the audience and lead to breathlessness and tears that are far more potent than the use of large budget epic scenes.

That being said, I do think the original dream of Darren's movie would have been superior... as I'm certain the addition of epic scenes would not have stolen from the movie but given him the freedom to amplify the effect on the audience slightly more.

The movie is a beautiful metaphor... it's a piece of art. I will not say it is an incredibly spectacular movie, because I know I will feel this due to its severe originality and pure thought patterns as compared to the ocean of soulless films that seem to be spawning everywhere around us.

It is, however, a good movie. And a refreshing movie. And most importantly... it is a serious movie. Movies should almost always be serious according to me... and by serious I mean the viewers make a commitment when they enter the theatre.

This is a movie that requests it. This explains why no one is really watching it. Films such as Donnie Darko and Good Will Hunting are movies that are also serious, but appeal to a grander audience and do not require the same level of commitment.

Movie reviews are not really necessary for artistic movies. You simply must ask yourself whether the artist presented his idea in a magnificent way that touched your soul in some manner, and pleasantly, I can say the Fountain achieved this.

Compensating for a smaller budget Aronofsky fulfilled his vision with careful cinematography and a perfect, constant, broodingly intense melody.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I saw the movie and I was really wowed by the effects... very well done. I have only seen the movie once which may be why I was confused by some of the symbols that were used. I think in the last forty five minutes I really became lost but I still felt a lot of the power and resolution that came with the ending. Could you clarify on what Aronofsky was trying to symbolize in this movie, more so in the end when the main character became that zen-like master? What truth had he discovered?

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance - Aldous Huxley"

I watched it opening night so i can't remember the specifics of it, but as far as I understood it it was absolutely Buddhist in nature.

He accepted that he was going to die. His fear of her dying and his desire to keep her alive wasn't his love for her - if he loved her, he would try to do what made her happy, which was spend time with her. Not spend his days trying to find a cure.

He did love her, but his fear of losing this is the glitch, and by the end his awakening was meant to be a slight change in mind-set where you grasp the universe for a second.

The symbolism of the tree was spectacular!!! It was, that if you wish to live forever, you must become a part of the earth, as we all do. Therefore it's an irony - you already ARE living forever.

The beautiful part of the end, which I think was a supernova, is the absolute dissection of the human form (which is what he regarded as "life" into miniscule particles, all still an absolute part of the universe, existing forever.

Energy and matter can not be destroyed or created, so we are in a closed system. That means, we DO live forever. That's Buddhism.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Yah, it makes a little more sense now. I really have to see it again but what a great movie!

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance - Aldous Huxley"

It's a shame this movie was overlooked by the public. Aside from the ending feeling a bit unresolved(though it works well that way), it really had everything that a movie should have. I can't remember details, as I saw it some time opening week, but your point about how some of the battle scenes were cut down in size makes me appreciate the idea of this film even more. Epic scenes would have been more effective.

"I am Akba-Atatdia"

To be honest, I don't think major battle scenes would have made the movie any better. Aside from that, I think wolverine (don't know the actors name) did a better job than Brad Pitt could have ever done for the film. The battle scenes that they had, if you could call them battle scenes, gave the movie a quaint, mystical feeling as opposed to large battle scenes which would turn it into some LOTR abortion. Plus the special effects realy gave it an "other-worldly" feel.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance - Aldous Huxley"

Interestingly enough, apparently there were very few special effects in this movie. He micro-recorded yeast growing and used that to represent the nebulas the space traveller was floating through. It's actually, an entirely natural effect. Very beautiful.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Ahhh... Darren... such a beautiful mind he has. I just watched this movie, to be honest, I had no idea that he even had a new movie out (besides Pi and Requiem For A Dream) until I saw this thread a couple months ago. I chose not to read this thread until I had seen the movie, for obvious reasons. I didn't want my view on the movie to be inhibited by what I had read, or what other peoples thoughts of it were. So tonight I went to the store and picked up a box of gold ol' milkduds, went home and ordered the movie.

I was really blown away. I'm not even going to begin to say that I understood the movie, far from it actually. Really the most I could wrap my mind around was the fact that it was definitely Buddhist in nature. But anything further then that was just to insane for me to even try to comprehend. The last 5 or 10 minutes I was definitely lost, but I didn't even care. I was just too involved in just watching what was going on on the screen. I loved the music, as with all of his films... especially Requim For A Dream. Right from when the music started I guessed that he had gone with Clint Mansell again, and at the ending credits my thoughts were confirmed. Really I'm not that great of a movie critic, it's hard for me to put my feelings into writing, but I just love his movies cause after they are over I just kinda sit there dumbfounded for a minute and try to understand what I just watched. And I can't even remember the last movie that did that to me, besides Requiem For A Dream, which actually had a severe effect on my outlook on life. As I'm sure some of you others felt the same. Children of Men was intense for maybe like, the first half an hour, but after that it was just lame... the ending was horrid. But oh well... I'm rambling. I loved this movie, I didn't understand it fully, but once again Darren has blown me away.

"Aint flashed a smile in a long while...."

I completely agree about music being top priority in a movie like that. The tunes give you a sense of emotion and explanation that can never be achieved through words or flashy scenes alone.

It's like a language that looks behind the curtains showing its true meaning.

"I'm a human being, God Dammit!! My life has value!!!"