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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgC6215Gko Darren Aronofsky. Oh, that cheeky fellow. Sure, he makes movies that have overwrought metaphores and tries to crowbar biblical stuff into science fiction or whatever, but there's also The Fountain. This 2006 movie isn't his most talked about, his most revered or his most reviled, but it is by far my personal favorite of his. I'd go as far as to say that The Fountain is a genuinely beautiful film in every sense of the word. From the golden hue that permeates the film to the staggeringly gorgeous score by Clint Mansell and the Chronos Quartet, and the earnest performances and its themes, it's clear that this film knows what its doing. It aims make death beautiful. And I think it succeeds in it. Some background info: Originally the budget for the film was far higher and had the star-studded cast of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but wound up having its budget severely cut, forcing a re-casting of the main actors ending up with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in the main parts. Personally, I think it was a good thing; the actors are perfect and the effects, instead of being typical CGI, were instead actual footage of microscopic chemical reactions and phenomena like yeast growing, were not only appropriate, but also worked significantly in the film's favor. For those who don't know, The Fountain takes place in three eras; in the 1500's, the 2000's and the 2500's.  In the 1500's, Tomás Verde is a Spanish conquistador in "New Spain," aka the newly discovered central America, on a quest from his queen, Isabella to find the Tree of Life and the key to immortality. Upon Tomás' discovering it, she has promised to be the "Eve to his Adam." Meanwhile in Spain, the Inquisitor threatens Isabella's rule over Spain.  In the 2000's, Tommy Creo, a gifted brain surgeon, struggles to find a cure for his wife, Izzy, who has terminal brain cancer. His research for the cure is taking away time from his wife and causing strain on their marriage. Izzy is working on her novel, set in 16th century Spain. One night, Tommy catches her stargazing, focusing on a dying star that she calls "Xibalba," pointing out that it is what the Mayans considered to be their afterlife and that while her novel begins in Spain, it ends in Xibalba.  In the 2500's, Tom, a space traveler, is heading for XIbalba in his bubble ship. Inside the ship there is a tree that gives life to Tom. He spends his time meditating, tattooing himself and experiencing flashbacks of his sick wife.  If you've made it this far, make sure you watch the movie because here's where it gets spoilerrific. There are a lot of interpretations of The Fountain, but on the surface level it goes like this: The 2000's storyline is the "main" storyline. Izzy works on her novel and Tommy is off trying to find a cure for her cancer. When he fails and Izzy dies, she leaves her novel for him to finish. One interpretation is this, and it's the one I agree with: Beyond the modern-day parts, Izzy's novel is mostly what we see. The 16th century storyline is already in her novel. In both the 2000's and the 2500's, she begs Tommy to "finish it," meaning both the story in her novel, and Tommy's own life. So Tommy does; he conceives an ending to her novel where he is an ageless space traveler, Tom, on his way to Xibalba, with his wife who has grown into a tree of life from the seed that Tommy put in her grave. The tree is dying however, and can only be reborn through death which can only be granted by Xibalba, a dying star. Tommy is terrified of death but in his grief, through his imagining of Izzy's story and with some help from Izzy herself, he ultimately learns to accept it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmPrsKV0Kg So what do you think of The Fountain? Love it? Hate it? Were you one of the lucky ones to see it in the theater?
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Jun 30, 2020 00:14
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Narzack posted:Haha, the spoiler bits at the end of your post didn't make any more sense to me than the first time I watched the movie, but it is definitely my favorite Aronofsky film. It's just beautiful, aurally and visually. I even bought the graphic novel that he wrote, but I still didn't quite understand it. Also, it's a fun double-feature with Sunshine It is a good double feature with Sunshine, both being really underrated science fiction films by auteur filmmakers from around the same era. FilthyImp posted:I saw The Fountain as a double feature -- can't remember if the film that preceded it was Rocky Balboa or Casino Royale...) -- after the quarter ended at college. I just happened to have been in a class that covered latin american literature, so the mythmaking about Xibalba and First Father and all that was somewhat fresh in my mind (if, not very clear to be honest). So watching a film that had a good amount of its plot intertwined with a latin american cosmology was really, really moving to me. Also I never caught the Inquisitor demonstrating a brain haemorrage on the map of Spain, nice catch! DoNotFeedTheBear posted:This is one of my favourite films. One of the most beautiful films I've seen. I love the message behind it. I thought Hugh Jackman was fantastic in it. His anguish when Izzy/The tree dies was quite powerful. Him screaming at her to leave him alone, before collapsing in tears and admitting his fear and begging her to tell him what he needs to do (how to write the ending, or maybe to write an ending that he would be ok with?), and then finally accepting his own mortality (and her death too?) genuinely made me cry. Narzack posted:Isn't there something about Tom constantly moving towards the light, and that's important? I don't know, I'm usually just too dazzled by everything to figure it out. Mat Cauthon posted:I saw this movie completely randomly when I was fresh out of Basic Training in 2006. Knew nothing about it, although I think I'd seen a trailer a few times here and there. A bunch of us were just stir crazy with money to burn and needed something to do, so we saw as many movies in a row as we could - I think the others were a Saw sequel and maybe Casino Royale? I was blown away by this movie and I've watched it regularly in the... nearly 15 years since then (goddamn where does the time go). The commentary is also absolutely worth listening to; I remember Aronofsky talking about this (amazing) scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N242jaihDwo And saying something about there being controversy about filming it because it's not "cool" to see a male protagonist crying so openly, but of course Jackman nailed it and made it just about the most heartwrenching scene in the film. feedmyleg posted:Has anyone read the graphic novel based on the original version of the film? I've heard it's not very good, but I'm curious how that colors the interpretation of the final film. I read it about a decade ago when I first saw the movie and fell in love with it, and I do remember it not being very good; the art style was slightly offputting and if I recall, and please correct me on this if I'm wrong, it's just a graphic novel version of the script with some tiny bits added/changed but I don't remember it being particularly impactful when compared, or in addition to the film itself. battlepigeon posted:The soundtrack is just superb! Mogwai and Clint Mansell was a match made in heaven Yes! Let's just get this out of the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whuf6C_T8tc Stare-Out fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Jul 2, 2020 22:29
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sponges posted:The Fountain is the only Aronofsky film I haven’t seen Having seen the others, how do you feel about him as a filmmaker? When I saw The Fountain, I only knew Requiem for a Dream (which I didn't enjoy but appreciated) so I didn't have much of a picture of him which I suppose allowed me to go in fairly open minded, but had I seen movies like Noah, mother! Black Swan and The Wrestler, I honestly don't think I would've had a good first impression of The Fountain which I think works better if you take into account his work up until that film. For the record, I don't dislike any of his films. mother! is probably at the bottom of the list for me though I don't hate it or anything, I just find it tremendously clumsy and overwrought, if enjoyable for the spectacle. Unlike many, I enjoyed Noah a whole lot and The Wrestler and Black Swan I think are simply solid, "good" movies. Pi is one I should watch again though because I saw it years ago and had a hard time connecting with it.
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Jul 4, 2020 15:32
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He's a good filmmaker and I'll give props to anyone who tries to do something original no matter what it ends up being but he does come across as someone who is a bit up his own rear end though so I wouldn't be surprised if he's tough to work with. But for The Fountain alone I'll give him a huge pass considering he wrote the thing too. sponges posted:He’s one of the more interesting and ambitious filmmakers working today
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Jul 4, 2020 17:42
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I've yet to do my yearly rewatch of this movie because I'm waiting for it to snow. Something about having it snow outside and yellow streetlights shining in while you watch this movie makes it so much better.
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Sep 14, 2020 22:40
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