Movie Review: The Fountain
To say I was excited to see The Fountain would be an understatement. Not only did this film look like a very interesting one from the start but it was also directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream and Pi). I love Darren’s previous stuff so I thought this would be no different and it wasn’t for the most part.
The film was well done in terms of effects, acting, music and cinematography (the lighting is great in particular as it parrallels Hugh Jackman’s character’s move from the dark to the light) but the story was lacking. This surprised me as Aronofsky is generally great at storytelling and since this was another situation in which he both wrote and directed the piece I expected it to be on par with his other work. My theory as to what happened here is that a lot of the film ended up on the cutting room floor due to studio constraints.
With the film tackling the subjects of life, death, love, spirituality and our existence in this world the 96 minute run time was just not enough. This film would have been much better if it was allowed to sit in a 2 to 2.5 hour time frame and I think that is probably how Aronofsky would have wanted it. Perhaps he’ll put out a directors cut someday so we can see the full piece in all its glory.
Either way I praise Aronofsky for being willing to take chances and expand the bounds of cinema. A lot of directors are OK with simply churning out the regular stuff and that’s a shame. The film wasn’t horrible in its final state and I would urge folks to check it out if only to see what groundbreaking cinema could be coming their way in the future.
