11/30/06 The Fountain

The Fountain (2006), directed by Darren Aronofsky

watched w/ Leslie; theater (Southpoint Cinemas, Durham, NC)

With Christmas shopping in full swing (well, for me, since I like to procrastinate), we were stranded pretty far from home with time dwindling down in order to watch a movie for the day...we stopped into one of those gigantic shopping mall cineplexes to avoid the crowds. What better way to avoid even the holiday season movie theater crowds (watching inevitably some crappy family-oriented animated film with talking ferrets or dumpsters and trying to hush sugared-up toddlers that are so bratty you want to slap the bejesus out of them) than by selecting the most overly pretentious art-house flick that has no business being shown at such a conglomerate theater?! Well, considering this is a studio release, and done by a director who has been much anticipated after such classic indie films as "Pi" and "Requiem For A Dream," this should be nothing less than fantastic. And, well, aside from the overall length of the film, it was. A completely surreal and trippy intergalactic and cross-generational love story that is told so beautifully and poignantly that very little dialogue is even necessary. Even the minor dialogue (strike that, mostly inner monologue) that is present is spoken in interrupted hushes and murmurs. Hugh Jackman plays Tom, a doctor who is so wrapped up in his work with finding a cure for his wife's (Rachel Weisz) cancer...that the lines between reality and dreams become very very blurred. The story itself does not hold us just to the one storyline, but three parallel ones that jump spans in the millenium all searching for some deeper meaning within life, spirituality, death, and science. That fragile balance of all those subjects tears at the man's heart, as he wants nothing more than to appreciate life's sweet pleasures with his lovely wife, yet must wrap his analytical head around all of its subtle inner-workings. The tree of life plays an integral part of the man's journey, his dreams of his love, and the delicate tapestry of humanity's connections. Now, all that artsy mumbo jumbo aside...this film is an utterly breathtaking "experience" film. Just sit back in the theater seat and soak in the entire screen. Let yourself be drawn into the pictures and the ideas...get lost in the silence...fall asleep, get high, never blink, whatever you need to do. It is a heart-wrenching story, but with an air of lightness and soul-searching that was refreshing...a well invited change of pace from the horrendous throngs of holiday shoppers. Maybe the bratty kids need to sit & chill with this subliminal mind-meld of a film, and not the animated singing doorknob.

5 out of 5 stars