the fountain; the good german
Dec. 7th, 2006 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amezriSo I've just come back from The Fountain. Let me start by saying: I really liked it. The more I think about it? The more I like it.
Seriously. Stop reading if you haven't seen the movie. It'll ruin it probably.
The movie opens with conquistadors attacking a Mayan temple... then shifts to a bald Hugh Jackman floating in space. There were giggles and I believe 2 people actually walked out of my theater at that point.Whatever. Their loss.
I knew this was going to be one of those movies that takes a while to set in -- to make sense. Yeah, totally right. I love the shift between the two stories -- Tomas, Tom, and Future Tom. Elizabeth/Izzi is present in all three of these. And okay, there is a lot to wrap your brain around. Hm...
There's the Conquistador, Tomas. Which, I think is based on Ponce de Leon, since Queen Elizabeth sends him on a quest to find the Tree of Life. But it's not because really, Tomas and Elizabeth are fictional characters in a book Izzi is writing for Tom. Yeah, I bought into the whole time periods thing too. And it works that way, too, though.
Tom & Izzi is the real story -- he's a research scientist trying to save his wife; cure her of her brain tumor. He is ultimately unsuccessful, the discovery of a cure just moments too late.
Future Tom.... well. Okay, either he is really Tom who took that concotion they gave to the monkey, or it's some sort of representation of the Tom's internal struggle. I sort of choose to believe that it is Tom in the future, having planted that seed over Izzi's grave and lived long enough to be able to create something to transport them to Xibalba.
As always, I love Darren Aronofsky's use of imagery. There was a lot of repetition of gold light and the image of circles. There were a ton of extreme close-ups. You get a lot of hints about the connections between the present and future stories -- the pen & ink set, the missing wedding ring, etc.
Oh, man. Is there a soundtrack or score album for this movie? (Oh! There is! *adds to wishlist*) Because as much as I loved the Requiem score, it creeps me the fuck out. This though... it's so moody and... I love it. Clint Mansell + Kronos Quartet + Mogwai FTW!
Hmm... apparently there was a great reduction in the amount of CG work, either because of budget issues or time constraints, but they ended up using macrophotography and images of cell cultures. I think it looks really, really cool and organic.
There were a lot of Eastern ideas and images in this film that I really liked -- the qigong scene, and especially at the end where Future Tom is sitting in Lotus position and is silouhetted by the light of Xibalba.
Hm. Okay, so there are people who totally hate the movie and there are people who really love it, but there doesn't seem to be a real middle ground. *shurg* I loved it. I want to see it again so I can pick up some more of the details.
One of the trailers before the film was "The Good German," staring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. It was really weird seeing Leland Orser and especially Beau Bridges in the trailer because it threwe my mind into fandom places and... German was developing a Stargate program! I mean... :x
Seriously. Stop reading if you haven't seen the movie. It'll ruin it probably.
The movie opens with conquistadors attacking a Mayan temple... then shifts to a bald Hugh Jackman floating in space. There were giggles and I believe 2 people actually walked out of my theater at that point.Whatever. Their loss.
I knew this was going to be one of those movies that takes a while to set in -- to make sense. Yeah, totally right. I love the shift between the two stories -- Tomas, Tom, and Future Tom. Elizabeth/Izzi is present in all three of these. And okay, there is a lot to wrap your brain around. Hm...
There's the Conquistador, Tomas. Which, I think is based on Ponce de Leon, since Queen Elizabeth sends him on a quest to find the Tree of Life. But it's not because really, Tomas and Elizabeth are fictional characters in a book Izzi is writing for Tom. Yeah, I bought into the whole time periods thing too. And it works that way, too, though.
Tom & Izzi is the real story -- he's a research scientist trying to save his wife; cure her of her brain tumor. He is ultimately unsuccessful, the discovery of a cure just moments too late.
Future Tom.... well. Okay, either he is really Tom who took that concotion they gave to the monkey, or it's some sort of representation of the Tom's internal struggle. I sort of choose to believe that it is Tom in the future, having planted that seed over Izzi's grave and lived long enough to be able to create something to transport them to Xibalba.
As always, I love Darren Aronofsky's use of imagery. There was a lot of repetition of gold light and the image of circles. There were a ton of extreme close-ups. You get a lot of hints about the connections between the present and future stories -- the pen & ink set, the missing wedding ring, etc.
Oh, man. Is there a soundtrack or score album for this movie? (Oh! There is! *adds to wishlist*) Because as much as I loved the Requiem score, it creeps me the fuck out. This though... it's so moody and... I love it. Clint Mansell + Kronos Quartet + Mogwai FTW!
Hmm... apparently there was a great reduction in the amount of CG work, either because of budget issues or time constraints, but they ended up using macrophotography and images of cell cultures. I think it looks really, really cool and organic.
There were a lot of Eastern ideas and images in this film that I really liked -- the qigong scene, and especially at the end where Future Tom is sitting in Lotus position and is silouhetted by the light of Xibalba.
Hm. Okay, so there are people who totally hate the movie and there are people who really love it, but there doesn't seem to be a real middle ground. *shurg* I loved it. I want to see it again so I can pick up some more of the details.
One of the trailers before the film was "The Good German," staring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. It was really weird seeing Leland Orser and especially Beau Bridges in the trailer because it threwe my mind into fandom places and... German was developing a Stargate program! I mean... :x
