Just returned from seeing it at the theater a few blocks away. Almost as good as seeing it in my living room as I was the only customer for the 3 PM matinée. At that I had to stuff some napkins in my ears as the projectionist had the DTS audio levels too high (they should go into the auditorium themselves and check but if they're half deaf it may not help). I did tell let the folks at the theater know the levels were too high. And the chair in my home theater is more comfortable. :)
As for the film I can see why it has not gotten too good of reviews (other than the ones quoted below). I liked Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" better but then it was written by Hubert Selby Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn). This film is a bit like a jig saw puzzle being put together. Also I will rent the DVD which should be the director's cut. I don't know why the studios have gone on a PG-13 binge but you should know that the film was cut from an R version. They must fear the religious right too much. The jigsawness made the film difficult to get into in the first 10 minutes which would probably send many a theater patron wondering what they had just spent their money on. I also wonder if the studio demanded he use a bunch of A-list actors who sort of take away the illusion of film (worst case I can think of recently was Scorcese's "The Aviator" where it was "now here is so-and-so playing so-and-so"). There are a lot of metaphors in the film and I bet New Agers will pull all kinds of interesting things out of it which probably Aronofsky didn't think of. Rick Archer wrote: > >From a friend: > > > > Greetings, > > "The Fountain" has just been booked into the Co-Ed Theatre for this Friday, > 12/8. We've been pitching the Co-Ed for a few weeks to bring it here. > > > > This is a spiritual film many folks here will love. It needs to be > experienced on the big screen but is rapidly dissapearing from theaters for > lack of box office sales. > > > > Most folks in FF are probably not aware or very aware of "The Fountain" and > have no idea how much they may enjoy it. > > > > Please help us promote this unique film experience. > > > > Most of the national reviewers that pan this do not understand the depth of > it's spiritual story- as we will. > > > > We have only one week to alert local film fans. Please consider forwarding > this out to your friends who may be interested. > > > > We very much appreciate your part in promoting and supporting these unique > intelligent/spiritual films in FF! > > As usual, the better the turn out the more likely more of these will come. > > > > Thank you! > > > > ~Bruce > > "I saw THE FOUNTAIN in Baton Rouge -- great movie! > > I loved the film and people will love it in Fairfield, very meditation and > evolution oriented film -- but it has plenty of action and snazzy stuff > too!" > > ~Jim Claitor- Film Producer > > Beyond anything you could expect from love By AMY BIANCOLLI > Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle > > Before contemplating the sublime metaphysical head trip called The Fountain, > it's best to remove your shoes and socks. Shave your head. Assume the lotus > position. Exhale slowly. Ommmm. > > Now close your eyes. No, bad idea; then you wouldn't be able to read. Just > keep them open while you visualize this: > > Hugh Jackman, hairy and bearded, as a conquistador fighting an ancient Mayan > priest who tells him that "death is the road to awe." Hugh Jackman, hairy > but clean-shaven, operating on a monkey brain as a modern-day cancer > researcher. Hugh Jackman, bald, floating inside an orb with a sentient tree > as they drift through space toward a golden nebula. He is, like you, in the > lotus position. > > There you have it: The Fountain, a film that defies description, summation, > expectation or any other -tion. Exquisitely beautiful and almost unbearably > sad, it is also - no way around this - truly strange. However strange you > think it is, it's stranger. Plopping Hugh Jackman into a giant soap bubble > isn't the half of it, but it's a fine place to meditate on the movie's > oddness. The Fountain is cinema as poetry; romance as revelation; science > fiction as prayer. It ponders death, and not as some pale Bergman chess > master, but death as a form of ecstasy. > > As a writer and director, Darren Aronofsky has never been one to shy from > either the morbid or the ecstatic, and he's yet to make a conventional film > of any kind. His most recent feature, 2000's Requiem for a Dream, concerned > four addicts chasing different forms of bliss, while his breakout Pi > followed an obsessive math whiz on a quest to find the 216-digit name for > God. In Aronofsky's movies, the path to enlightenment - that "road to awe" - > isn't lined with wildflowers, unless they're sprouting violently from > someone's midriff. > > Yes, that happens in The Fountain. A lot happens in The Fountain, though > it's barely an hour and a half long. > > Here I'm compelled to say two things. First: This is one outlandish film, > and many viewers will hate it. Hate. It. Second: It's nevertheless a > transcendent work of art, a vision of undying love that finds hope in grief, > epiphany in death and life in the loss of Eden. Trippy visuals (inspired by > David Bowie: true fact) and an urgent score (by Clint Mansell, with help > from the Kronos Quartet) combine with a quixotic screenplay (by Aronofsky > and Ari Handel) and Jackman's guts-bared performance to create a work both > foolish and divine. > > I, for one, was transfixed: eyes wide open, awed." > > Lisa > <http://www.ew.com/ew/search/verity/result/1,9158,,00.html?origin_topic=&ori > gin_type=&origin_brand=0&find=Lisa%20Schwarzbaum&x=7&y=10> Schwarzbaum > wrote in E.W. > > "There's something as recklessly okay about The Fountain in its imperfection > as there is something undeniably cockamamy; it's an entirely mood-dependent > experience enhanced by identification with > romantic/spiritual/kabbalistic/journal-or-blog-keeping tendencies of one's > own, and ruined by impatience." > > The Fountain > > -- Ann Hornaday- Washington Post > > "The Fountain," by Darren Aronofsky, is a futuristic romantic thriller with > sci-fi and historical elements that blend into a trippy meditation on love, > loss and the inextricable link between the two. It's a valentine to > Aronofsky's girlfriend and luminous leading lady, Rachel Weisz. It's a > sprawling experiment in philosophical time travel and metaphysical noodling. > And it's an earnest, magnificent wreck. > > Aronofsky, of course, is responsible for two of the most accomplished films > of the past 10 years, "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream." They exemplified both > wild imagination and superb control; "The Fountain" suffers from a surfeit > of the former and too little of the latter. Still, if this latest outing > doesn't burnish Aronofsky's reputation as a cinematic visionary, it doesn't > necessarily damage it, either." > > 'Fountain' taps into spirituality as it explores the quest for immortality > > By WILLIAM ARNOLD Seattle Post > > "What is going on? Aronofsky says, "We've become so preoccupied with > sustaining the physical that we often forget to nurture the spirit. So > that's one of (the movie's) central themes: Does death make us human, and if > we could live forever, would we lose our humanity?" > > So, in a way, the film is his version of "2001: A Space Odyssey," and many > viewers will enjoy its similarly challenging structure and New Age > razzle-dazzle, which is nicely crystallized by some especially imaginative > special effects in the climax. > > In an era in which even the so-called independent cinema chases formulas and > is ruled by a cowardly herd instinct, you really have to admire Aronofsky's > guts for making such a risky, uncompromising, spiritual-minded film." > > >
