One of the most painful experiences of my life.

The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006)


5 reasons to see this film

1. To experience this film
2. To see a film literally be taken away from a director
3. The sometimes good look that the films has...sometimes
4. To say you have atleast seen this before you criticize it unlike how most people have
5. Honestly, nothing more to say...



Darren Aronofsky, a director recogonized for his visual flare that he gives to thought provoking films such as his diretional debut "Pi" and Acclmained film "requiem for a dream" has been wanting to make "The fountain" all his life. This was suppose to be his masterpiece, a film that came deep down from the heart and created from passion. The passion is there, obviously if he took him nearly a decade to get it made but this just didn't turn out the way he had planned it. Many people have said that this is Aronofsky's "dune" so to speak, the David Lynch film that was raped and edited by producers and studio execs. When you see the film you can not help feel bad for Darren but yet you still have to criticize what the ending product was and well it's just one of the worst films that i have ever seen.

Darren completely loses his sense of scale throughout the whole film. He doesn't know wheather to make an epic or an intimate love story that surpasses the sands of time. The Story literally goes everywhere and it just slips away from Darren's hands and throughout the whole film your sitting and thinking when this film is going to get back on it's feet but sadly it never does. Like i said, the passion is there but the film isnt.

The film doesn't even seemed to be directed by Aronofsky at times. The audience who has loved his films in the pass should notice it by just the overall feeling of the film. The characters are the most one dimensional characters i have ever seen the his visual flare is hardly even there. I'm not talking about how "pretty" it looks but the way he uses his camera. It's one of the few times that i sat through a film and cringed just waiting for it to finish. I wanted to stop the film atleast 3 times throughout but just couldn't, i was hoping that some how it would magically turn around.

This was suppose to be Darren's film. A personal film that shouldn't have had any executive say from other people. It's just a very sad and painful experience to see the finish product. What could have been a masterpiece seems like a student film with a higher budget even though the budget was actually cut down while filming. Nothing really works in this film, the characters , the story telling, nothing. They basically show you the same exact scene three times, literally and metaphorically speaking and if i'm wrong and Darren is actually proud of this film then i won't be anticipating his next project because this was just horrible.

Grade D-