The Fountain (2006)
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col 97m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn
Synopsis:
A veterinary neurosurgeon pursuing his research into ageing and tumours in primates is distracted by his wife's terminal illness. She, meanwhile, is writing a book, which she wants him to finish, in which a parallel is drawn between a Mayan tree of life and a nebula the Mayans identified with the underworld.
Review:
Depending on your tastes and inclinations, this is either the biggest load of new-age hocus-pocus since Dave Bowman made it through Saturn's rings, or a profoundly beautiful spiritual experience. The unfortunate Jackman must alternate between mournful obsessive, Spanish conquistador and interstellar Buddhist recluse, and unsurprisingly fails to hold our empathy in the way Clooney in Solaris, for example, does. The visual conception is undeniably impressive, but the oppressive darkness and indigestible mix of reincarnation and Grand Inquisitors proved too much for many. (The film was a commercial disaster, grossing less than half its budget, and was a foretaste of things to come, e.g. Mother!)
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col 97m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn
Synopsis:
A veterinary neurosurgeon pursuing his research into ageing and tumours in primates is distracted by his wife's terminal illness. She, meanwhile, is writing a book, which she wants him to finish, in which a parallel is drawn between a Mayan tree of life and a nebula the Mayans identified with the underworld.
Review:
Depending on your tastes and inclinations, this is either the biggest load of new-age hocus-pocus since Dave Bowman made it through Saturn's rings, or a profoundly beautiful spiritual experience. The unfortunate Jackman must alternate between mournful obsessive, Spanish conquistador and interstellar Buddhist recluse, and unsurprisingly fails to hold our empathy in the way Clooney in Solaris, for example, does. The visual conception is undeniably impressive, but the oppressive darkness and indigestible mix of reincarnation and Grand Inquisitors proved too much for many. (The film was a commercial disaster, grossing less than half its budget, and was a foretaste of things to come, e.g. Mother!)
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col 97m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn
Synopsis:
A veterinary neurosurgeon pursuing his research into ageing and tumours in primates is distracted by his wife's terminal illness. She, meanwhile, is writing a book, which she wants him to finish, in which a parallel is drawn between a Mayan tree of life and a nebula the Mayans identified with the underworld.
Review:
Depending on your tastes and inclinations, this is either the biggest load of new-age hocus-pocus since Dave Bowman made it through Saturn's rings, or a profoundly beautiful spiritual experience. The unfortunate Jackman must alternate between mournful obsessive, Spanish conquistador and interstellar Buddhist recluse, and unsurprisingly fails to hold our empathy in the way Clooney in Solaris, for example, does. The visual conception is undeniably impressive, but the oppressive darkness and indigestible mix of reincarnation and Grand Inquisitors proved too much for many. (The film was a commercial disaster, grossing less than half its budget, and was a foretaste of things to come, e.g. Mother!)