Movie Review #1
Last night my sister and I went to see The Fountain a movie whose director is best known for directing Requiem for a Dream. It stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz who together circle questions regarding life, death, love and spirituality.
This movie was a story of a doctor (Jackman) who is trying desperately to find a cure to a brain tumor his wife has. During his anguished quest for a cure using bark from a tree discovered, his wife (Weisz) has written a fictional story of a conquistador on a mission to find the Tree of Life for his queen whose life is being threatened by inquisitors of the Church (a parallel to her perception of her husbands struggle.) In addition to these two plots there is a third story line set at some point in the future where Jackman’s character is evolved into some kind of spiritual astronaut traveling with the tree of life (which takes on the same focus in his life as his wife and queen in the previous stories.) The tree is dying and he is trying desperately to get it to the center of a dying star so it can be reborn at the moment that the star dies.
To say this was a good movie is not quite right. But I also cannot call it bad. I think the final product is probably not what Darren Aronofsky had in mind and what we got as an audience was cut/edited in a way that left me feeling slightly off balance and spending more time than I should have trying to connect the synapses in my brain to comprehend what the heck was going on. On the plus side; it was beautifully laid out and artfully directed. I feel the performances were absolutely incredibly as Jackman was the epitome of struggle and devotion and Weisz represented love and the fragility of life. Both tuned into the core of who these people were/are and the result was stunning.
Overall I give “The Fountain” 3 stars (on a scale of 5) as it is not a movie for the masses but for a more segmented group of the population. If you are looking for a simple love story/science fiction odyssey I say walk away. If, however, you are willing to watch a movie that has an interesting if at times convoluted plot, is thought provoking and is beautifully directed. Understanding that you will leave pondering what you just saw than by all means; this movie is for you.
This movie was a story of a doctor (Jackman) who is trying desperately to find a cure to a brain tumor his wife has. During his anguished quest for a cure using bark from a tree discovered, his wife (Weisz) has written a fictional story of a conquistador on a mission to find the Tree of Life for his queen whose life is being threatened by inquisitors of the Church (a parallel to her perception of her husbands struggle.) In addition to these two plots there is a third story line set at some point in the future where Jackman’s character is evolved into some kind of spiritual astronaut traveling with the tree of life (which takes on the same focus in his life as his wife and queen in the previous stories.) The tree is dying and he is trying desperately to get it to the center of a dying star so it can be reborn at the moment that the star dies.
To say this was a good movie is not quite right. But I also cannot call it bad. I think the final product is probably not what Darren Aronofsky had in mind and what we got as an audience was cut/edited in a way that left me feeling slightly off balance and spending more time than I should have trying to connect the synapses in my brain to comprehend what the heck was going on. On the plus side; it was beautifully laid out and artfully directed. I feel the performances were absolutely incredibly as Jackman was the epitome of struggle and devotion and Weisz represented love and the fragility of life. Both tuned into the core of who these people were/are and the result was stunning.
Overall I give “The Fountain” 3 stars (on a scale of 5) as it is not a movie for the masses but for a more segmented group of the population. If you are looking for a simple love story/science fiction odyssey I say walk away. If, however, you are willing to watch a movie that has an interesting if at times convoluted plot, is thought provoking and is beautifully directed. Understanding that you will leave pondering what you just saw than by all means; this movie is for you.
posted by Jennifer at 11:27 AM
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