Rating of
3.5/4
"The Fountain" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/02/12
A surgeon desperately searches for a cure for his wife's cancer while absorbing himself into the world represented by her final novel. Darren Aronofsky is nothing if not brave and once again willingly sacrifices mainstream acceptability to realise his vision. Similar in format to 2046 in that fantasy and reality are happening in parallel on screen, The Fountain is a representation of his musings on mortality, love and loss and coming to terms with personal grief. It is a truly stunning film to look at with an appropriately beautiful score, complimented nicely by a surprisingly sensitive performance by Hugh Jackman. I'm sure some may dismiss the script as a load of pretentious claptrap, but I personally found it both visually and aurally enchanting as well as deeply moving. However you choose to look at it, The Fountain contains the kind of imagination and invention that is all too often missing from mainstream cinema and for that reason alone it is worth 90 minutes of anybody's time.
