You do. You will.
Nov. 25th, 2006 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerTHE FOUNTAIN is not for everyone. Of course it's getting panned by many. Of course many booed it at the Venice film festival. And why? I'm tempted to say, as my mother said, "they just don't get it," but that feels smug and condescending. I do feel that many will see it as pretentious, ponderous, convoluted, or just plain too slow. I don't think I'll even try to argue with these people. I don't even want to read the negative reviews for this movie.
This film was absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Halfway into the movie I realized that this film would be haunting my thoughts for days to come. Halfway into the movie, I completely forget that I had to pee like hell, I was just that engrossed into it.
If I had to try to describe this movie, to give someone an idea of what to expect, I'd simply say, "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's a film that will offer little explicit explanation, leaving the viewer to piece it all together, but at the same time, don't break your brain trying to follow it. You just need to sit back and let it... unfold... before your eyes.
It seems that every thing I see Hugh Jackman in next impresses me more and more with his abilities as an actor. I think he will be the most deserving person of an Oscar this year who won't even be nominated. Brad Pitt, who was originally attached to the film alongside Cate Blanchett, could not have done better. I want to see him as Harvey Dent now more than ever.
That said, I would have preferred seeing Cate in this film rather than Rachel Weisz. Not that she was bad at all, no, but Blanchett has a luminescence that would have served this role beautifully. And right now, the only problem I had with the film was Weisz's American accent. I accredit her delivery of simple lines like "I'm scared" and "My conquistador" for my only wince-inducing experiences in the film. But then, I think if anyone has a problem with this movie, her accent will be the least of their complaints.
I'm just glad I saw this with someone else, and particularly with my mother. She's a nurse, someone who's had a lot of experience with death, with people dying and their families. With those who are ready to accept it and those who are not. With those who are prepared to take something to the next inevitable level and those obsessed with fighting change. With how an obsession for someone else can be purely selfish, and how that obsession, that quest, can utterly consume you.
This was a true labor of love on the part of Darren Aronofsky. A couple years ago, when it seemed the movie might not get made, he got together with DC Comics and adapted it as a graphic novel, telling a different perspective on the same story. I've read it before, but now methinks I must buy it tomorrow.
I don't praise this film lightly. There are not many movies I would call beautiful. AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS, GATTACA, maybe THE STRAIGHT STORY might fit among them, but not many. There are very few people to whom I'd recommend THE FOUNTAIN. For any of a number of reasons, it just won't work for perhaps the majority. But speaking from a purely personal standpoint, I found this absolutely beautiful.
This film was absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Halfway into the movie I realized that this film would be haunting my thoughts for days to come. Halfway into the movie, I completely forget that I had to pee like hell, I was just that engrossed into it.
If I had to try to describe this movie, to give someone an idea of what to expect, I'd simply say, "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's a film that will offer little explicit explanation, leaving the viewer to piece it all together, but at the same time, don't break your brain trying to follow it. You just need to sit back and let it... unfold... before your eyes.
It seems that every thing I see Hugh Jackman in next impresses me more and more with his abilities as an actor. I think he will be the most deserving person of an Oscar this year who won't even be nominated. Brad Pitt, who was originally attached to the film alongside Cate Blanchett, could not have done better. I want to see him as Harvey Dent now more than ever.
That said, I would have preferred seeing Cate in this film rather than Rachel Weisz. Not that she was bad at all, no, but Blanchett has a luminescence that would have served this role beautifully. And right now, the only problem I had with the film was Weisz's American accent. I accredit her delivery of simple lines like "I'm scared" and "My conquistador" for my only wince-inducing experiences in the film. But then, I think if anyone has a problem with this movie, her accent will be the least of their complaints.
I'm just glad I saw this with someone else, and particularly with my mother. She's a nurse, someone who's had a lot of experience with death, with people dying and their families. With those who are ready to accept it and those who are not. With those who are prepared to take something to the next inevitable level and those obsessed with fighting change. With how an obsession for someone else can be purely selfish, and how that obsession, that quest, can utterly consume you.
This was a true labor of love on the part of Darren Aronofsky. A couple years ago, when it seemed the movie might not get made, he got together with DC Comics and adapted it as a graphic novel, telling a different perspective on the same story. I've read it before, but now methinks I must buy it tomorrow.
I don't praise this film lightly. There are not many movies I would call beautiful. AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS, GATTACA, maybe THE STRAIGHT STORY might fit among them, but not many. There are very few people to whom I'd recommend THE FOUNTAIN. For any of a number of reasons, it just won't work for perhaps the majority. But speaking from a purely personal standpoint, I found this absolutely beautiful.
