“The Fountain” began as an intriguing, gorgeous film about a man’s (Hugh Jackman) search for eternal life at the behest of the Queen of Spain (Rachel Weisz) during the Inquisition. He loves his country and he loves her, and he will do anything to save both, heading to the new world to find the Tree of Life.
This obscure-but-readable story meets a contemporary tale of the same actors as a married couple; in this one, the doctor searches for a cure for his wife’s brain cancer. This part of the story dominates the movie, fortunately, for it is the most accessible and genuinely moving.
In between those, we endure strange interludes of a bald Jackman crouching in an interstellar purgatory, waiting for his true love to join him in eternity. Evidently, Jackman is a space traveler in the distant future, but I have to admit I wasn’t completely clear on that point until I checked IMDB to see how to spell Darren Aronofsky.
And while the swirling gold background is a little silly, and I wasn’t always 100 percent sure what I was watching – I thought it was the afterlife, but it was outer space – the film holds together. Genuine emotion and suspense are generated, and I was on board.
Rachel Weisz is a terrific actress and several scenes between her and Jackman were memorably well written and executed. The stakes of life and death were truly expressed. The two actors had a real chemistry and I cared about them. The way that she was writing the story of the plot that takes place in Spain worked, too.
Then I lost all my goodwill for this movie in the final quarter of the film. The delicate balance between inventiveness and unbridled, baroque artsi-ness (deserving even of that fatal suffix fartsi-ness) was tragically tipped. I will illustrate with a telling anecdote.
Occasionally, while watching a DVD, a cord becomes lose on the back of my television and the picture goes black, while the sound continues; my husband jiggles the cord and the picture comes back. This happened during “The Fountain” and neither of us realized it for several minutes. We watched the black screen, listened to some rustling sounds, and accepted it as part of the “plot.” For all I knew, we had just witnessed the conclusion and the thing was over.
When a technical malfunction is indistinguishable from an artistic choice, you have gone too far. Darren Aronofsky (director of “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream”) is clearly an intelligent guy with a distinct vision and something to say. He’s also lucky in love; that was his baby Rachel Weisz was pregnant with at the 2006 Oscars. Way to lock it down, Darren.
Nevertheless, “The Fountain” sunk finally into a poorly computer generated mess. Perhaps he blew his budget on the Tree of Life scenes, which were splendid. The fact that the end was largely set to overblown music made it seem very much like a Madonna video, and as Hugh Jackman flew around in the lotus position through a golden cartoon haze, I felt relief that this movie was only an hour and a half long.
“The Fountain” is currently available to rent.
For post-Independence Day activist inspiration, check out a video presentation of the documentary “Bus Rider’s Union,” a politically aware yet artistically expressed portrayal of multi-racial grassroots movement. This documentary traces three years of the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union, a dynamic social movements formed to fight transit racism, clean up L.A.’s auto pollution, and win billion-dollar victories for real mass transit.
If you’re tired of re-watching “An Inconvenient Truth” but still feel like getting fired up for 2008, come to this free screening on July 5 at 7:00 pm. It’s at Satori Coffee House, 5460 Old Shell Road and is sponsored by the Green Party. For more information, call 850-474-1495, email escambiagreens@cox.net or visit www.escambiagreens.org.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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