The Fountain Review

This is my second viewing of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain.  It’s been two years, perhaps more, since I saw it last, which, oddly enough, I think was good for me.  This is another kind of movie that has to be seen multiple times and needs time to be digested.  The film literally operates on multiple levels of time and space and though there are connections threaded between these levels (some obvious and others not so much), the viewer is expected to participate in the interpretation of these connections.  The film demands attention from the audience and rewards careful consideration with multiple open-ended interpretations.  The Fountain repays the viewer proportionally to the effort invested in it, which is fascinating in my opinion.

The Fountain essentially tells three very similar stories in three different time and space settings.  The Conquistador storyline is set in 16^th century Spain and Latin America.  Queen Isabel (whose life is in jeopardy at the hands of the Inquisition) sends Tomas the conquistador on a quest to find and claim the Tree of Life for his motherland thereby saving Spain.  The Scientist storyline is set in modern times and tells the tale of Tom and Izzy.  Tom is a frustrated researcher on the verge of discovering a cure for cancer, specifically the kind of cancer his wife, Izzy, suffers from.  The Astronaut storyline is set in outer space and tells the story of the titular character’s journey across the universe into a dying star.  The Astronaut is traveling in an ecosphere, encapsulated along with an enormous dying tree with which the astronaut speaks as though it were an intimate lover.

Without getting into specifics it is difficult to discuss what works and doesn’t work about the film.  I’m convinced after reading about it and seeing it again that nothing was put in here without careful consideration and planning.  There are things about it that I don’t understand, but I don’t think of it as poor filmmaking.  I think of it as something requiring thought and discussion.  This is exactly the kind of film to see with friends and debate interpretations because different people will view the movie in different ways and no one deduction is necessarily 100% correct.  I think it should be mentioned that Hugh Jackman’s performance is among the best I have seen.  The frustration, passion and emotional anguish his character experiences is entirely convincing and truly an accomplishment.  Having portrayed only Wolverine, Van Helsing and Leopold (from Kate and Leopold) up to the point when this movie was made, I feel this performance is truly where Jackman established his abilities as a dramatic actor.

Visually, the film is striking in several ways. The imagery, particularly from the Astronaut storyline is iconic.  The film’s lighting is done intelligently, frequently portraying Rachel Weisz’s characters awash in light while keeping Hugh Jackman’s characters hidden in the shadows until late in the film, when it becomes appropriate to light him more brightly.   Another subtle visual cue Aronofsky gives us is the use of simple shapes in specific time periods.  The 16^th century storyline makes use of triangular shapes; the present day story primarily utilizes rectangular shapes and the future storyline focuses on circular shapes.  Whether this has any significance beyond simply differentiating the time periods is open to interpretation, but I appreciate this kind of effort on the filmmakers’ part.

The Fountain has become one of my favorite films of all time.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it the first time I saw it, but after the second viewing I am almost entirely convinced it is a masterpiece.  There are bits that I need to ponder further and I’m sure that the conclusions I draw from it are at least somewhat unique to me, but I think that is the beauty of this film.  I love hearing how other people see it differently and how they reached those conclusions.  I love a film that is as open to as many different possibilities as this is, but I have to admit that it is not a film accessible to everyone.  Many people won’t enjoy this movie because its not easy to interpret, but I love it when a movie sticks with me after the credits roll.   The Fountain is one such movie.

10/10

The Fountain

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Written by Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

Starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn

Cinematography by Matthew Libatique

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language

Sunshine Review

I’ve been meaning to watch Sunshine for quite a while, only recently purchasing a copy of the film when the price dropped to $6 at Best Buy.  I’ve heard many great things about it, and some not-so-great things about it. 

Coming from Danny Boyle, UK director and most recent recipient of the Best Picture Academy Award (for Slumdog Millionaire), Sunshine is set about 50 years in the future from now when the Sun is in danger of extinguishing itself completely.  Mankind has already sent one expedition to re-ignite the Sun, the Icarus I, but communications are cut off as the team reaches the Sun and its status is unknown.  Icarus I is given up for lost and seven years later the Icarus II is sent to finish the mission.  The film picks up as the Icarus II enters what they call the “Dead Zone,” – an area of space around the Sun where communication with earth becomes impossible.  The film begins as the team sets about sending their final messages home.

One of the things I liked most about Sunshine was the logical progression of the story.  One event leads to the next in a thoughtful, sensible fashion and the story unfolds in an entirely believable way.  I always appreciate a film that doesn’t give their audience the proverbial nudge and wink and then say, “I know this doesn’t make sense, but just accept it because you know it’s fictional anyway.”  Every turn of the story has motivation behind it and is brought about in a way that makes sense within the context of the movie. The only plot point that is not explained is how/why the Sun’s light is being extinguished so many millions of years before scientists predict it will.  The fact that the Sun is fading is not a big deal, but the fact that it is fading and they set the film 50 years into the future kind of begs an explanation.  But every other element, to my knowledge, is explained logically even if it’s not in a way that is 100% accurate to real science. 

The story itself is a rather bleak affair, which isn’t my favorite kind of movie to watch but I appreciate the cast and crew’s dedication to effectively creating and sustaining that kind of atmosphere.  The film evokes pseudo-spiritual imagery – daunting, awe-inspiring and majestic while at the same time remarkably dangerous and hopeless.   There seems to be a constant state of equal-but-opposite contrasting relationships throughout the film.  The science team is earth’s last hope and represents the only chance earth has for a future, but they themselves have no hope of surviving and returning home.  The Sun itself is continually a reminder that it is equally a bringer of life and death, light and darkness, understanding and insanity.

There wasn’t much about the film that I didn’t like, and I find it hard to pinpoint any one thing that stood out as poor in quality.  It is a film that should be seen several times before drawing final conclusions, but off the top of my head there are a couple things I wasn’t a fan of.  The decision to turn the movie into a pseudo-slasher/horror film at the end was a little weak and unnecessary given the team’s already doomed fate.  Some of the camera and post-production work were a little confusing, if that makes sense.  One of the characters introduced late in the story is never clearly seen on screen; instead we see quick, blurry passes over his face and body from camera angles that often skew the perspective beyond recognition at all.  It’s especially unnecessary, I thought, because we know who the character is and I saw no reason to visually hide his features (unless the prosthetics were crappy and they were just hiding the sloppy make-up). 

Overall, Sunshine is a thought-provoking, multi-dimensional film that should inspire conversation among those patient enough to give it a chance.   A seamless experience, Sunshine earns a spot among the better films in sci-fi cinema.  It’s not perfect, but no film is and I recommend it to anyone looking for a rich, satisfying visual, psychological and philosophical take on science fiction.

8/10

Sunshine

Directed by Danny Boyle

Produced by Andrew Macdonald

Written by Alex Garland

Starring Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh

Music by John Murphy, Underworld (a band, apparently)

Rated R for violent content and language 

Twilight Review

I am completely unfamiliar with the Twilight universe, for starters, but it seems intriguing to me.  I have never read the book, but I’ll start with what I do know going into this first viewing.  I know that Edward Cullen is a vampire living with his family clan in (or near) Forks, Washington.  I know that Bella has moved to Forks after her mother and her new stepfather basically tell her they want to live without her for a while.  I’ll try to overlook the fact that a vampire who is more than 80 years old is still in high school (he is clearly not an idiot, so we must assume he just enjoys the high school experience, or is entirely devoted to keeping up his appearances)

I’m not really sure what to make of the film, at least at this point (about an hour in).  It certainly places its focus squarely on relationships and emotions in place of action and excitement.  Mystery, intrigue and awkward semi-romantic tension are intended to drive the movie forward but it only achieves that goal in spurts and sputters.  It seems as though this is a movie that is defined by the chemistry between its two main characters, which for the first half of the movie only works in some places.  Edward is at times drawn to Bella, and at other times repelled by her which makes sense once Edward and Bella level with each other, but is quite frustrating leading up to that point.  The first meeting is especially discomforting, considering that Edward unashamedly glares at Bella like he’s utterly disgusted and even furious with the fact that she sits next to him in class.   I understand how it is explained later that he is intensely attracted to her and intrigued because he can’t read her mind, but at this point in the story we have absolutely no clue that vampires or werewolves have anything to do with the story.  So Edward’s glaring and glowering just makes him look like a freak. The more I think about it, the more I think the error lies with the source material instead of the performances, even though the performances delivered by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are hit and miss, sometimes delivering lines effectively and sometimes falling flat. 

All this awkwardness and tension comes to a head when Bella begins to put the pieces together about what Edward is.  Once she confronts him with the knowledge that she knows what he is and he comes clean about the burden he bears, it almost feels as though a burden is lifted from the shoulders of the film.  Bella and Edward seem much more comfortable around one another once the air clears and emotions are laid out to each other.  Particularly this is the case with Edward.  He becomes a much more likeable character once the burden of his secret is out in the open and Bella accepts (or challenges, rather) him. When Edward tells her that she shouldn’t trust him, that he isn’t sure he can control his desire for her blood, she tells him she trusts him and she knows he won’t hurt her, which is at the same time incredibly bold but potentially incredibly foolish. Only time will tell which is true.

            I think the film works best when the attention is set squarely on the relationship shared by the two main characters.  There is a story going on behind their blossoming romance, but it doesn’t really take a front seat until the baseball game.  It seems like the focus of the film is on the romance, which is unfortunate because the background story is rushed through and filled out with underdeveloped characters.  The “villain” of the film is introduced more than half way into the movie, which means we hardly know anything about him, his motivations or his goals.  He is presented simply as a “tracker vampire” who only lives for the hunt.  He gets a whiff of Bella’s scent at the baseball game which apparently means he will hunt her until he kills her.  But all this only serves as a vehicle to move Bella and Edward’s relationship forward, which just sucks because I think the whole vampire universe here could be fleshed out a lot more.  It would go a long way towards making the movie more unified, because it feels unbalanced with so much focus directed towards the romantic plot and so little placed on everything else.

Overall, the impression I walked away from the movie with was one of squandered potential.  It felt very much like the book was used as the script and the film feels chained down as a result. Books don’t naturally translate to film; they need to be adapted properly and I think Twilight would have benefited from that process.  But it is not a bad movie; in fact, I found the romantic aspect of the story very compelling.  Twilight does several things very well, but other things it does a little haphazardly.  

6/10

Twilight

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke

Written by Melissa Rosenberg; novel by Stephanie Meyer

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson

Rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality