so on this, the first evening of my temporary academic reprieve, i thought to myself, perhaps i’ll just watch a couple movies and go to bed early … apparently instead, i will blog about movies instead, cause you know i don’t see my computer enough during the work day. 🙂
this weekend, my sister came to visit, see the pathetically short entry, post before last, and brought The Fountain with her. i’m glad she did. it was interesting, which isn’t really meant to be a euphemism for anything (as, sadly, it so often can be… see: “what do you think of my new haircut?” “wow, it’s really interesting!”). it really was interesting. i don’t know if i would say i liked it, exactly – without any caveats – but it was thought-provoking, and really beautiful to look at.
the premise, as it penetrated this brain of mine, was this. a man (doctor, researcher) frantically tries to find a cure for the tumor which is killing his wife. interwoven, a story of a conquistador who travels to a Mayan city in Guatemala to find the Tree of Life for Queen Isabella of Spain; and interludes with the same man, only bald and futuristic, in a (really cool looking) biosphere with only a giant, gnarled tree, and enough to keep that alive (water, etc.) hurtling through space, presumably in the future.
we weren’t sure what the heck was going on, on a larger level. who was who? were they all the same people? the wife, portrayed by Rachel Weisz (who i really like), in the present time was writing a manuscript (eponymously titled to the film) about the Spanish plot, so was that just the story she made up? the future guy (lead actor, Hugh Jackman) seemed like he might really be the present guy …
i can say this: good performances by all. kind of wrenching. visually, stunning, esp. the future scenes. also it seems that Darren Aronofsky, the director, doesn’t like CGI, so a surprising amount of things were actually, somehow, created in other ways. (watch the DVD extra if you rent it). thought provoking. a bit abstract, but then, i gather, Aronofsky is that sort of guy.
June 19, 2007 at 8:06 am
I fell asleep during the Fountain. Yes, I was on a plane, and it was 4am, and I had seen 3 other films by that time, but I just couldn’t keep myself awake. Yes, I am sure you have heard stories on my falling asleep during movies (but this one put me out cold!)
June 19, 2007 at 8:19 am
well, i can see how you might. i had the advantage of: a) a partner in crime (which helps with the alertness); b) two hour power outage in the middle (shook us up a bit); c) we are suckers for a puzzle, so we kept trying to crack the code as it were.
June 20, 2007 at 7:40 am
What you have to understand about Allison is that she frequently falls asleep during films!:-P
June 22, 2007 at 9:22 am
Yeah yeah Peter! I know CG knows all about my legendary “sleeping through movies” move, but honestly, this would have put anyone to sleep.
June 25, 2007 at 6:06 pm
cg2 chiming in here… i actually thought that what the plot lacked in continuity, it more than made up in its aesthetic presentation – the lighting and the attention to detail were incredible! i thought it was really a beautiful (if not logical) film.(however, one should note that i find a lot of value in art, as cg1 said, enjoy a good puzzle… yet i’m a stickler for plot and consistency when it comes to movie adaptations of books and historical events!)