The MB Film Club: 'The Fountain' Discussion Thread

[James]

Please post any discussion pertaining to 'The Fountain' in this thread and we'll keep the other one tidy!

[Zhanteimi]

One of the worst movies ever made.

[James]

Why?

[Zhanteimi]

Probably the context in which I saw it. My friend watched it whilst tripping on acid one day, came out of the room and told me it was the best movie ever made (because it was about his own life -- typical tripping schizophrenia), so when I watched it later, I was expecting great things. Instead, I got karate against the stars with a floating tree in a bubble. It's not as bad as The Tree of Life, but it's still awful.

[James]

I really like The Tree of Life, and I like this movie too, to an extent. Besides, the floating tree bubble only takes up a third of the film.

[Zhanteimi]

The Tree of Life -- a comet hits the earth and kills all the dinosaurs, and then some kid can't get along with his father.

[James]

Nice plot summary, but Malick is just such a master of capturing beauty that his plots don't mean anything to me. Days of Heaven is one of my absolute favourites, I really don't care that much about Richard Gere conning a farmer but the shots of the sun on those cornrows are so aesthetically stunning I don't mind. Same with Badlands, although at least the two stars with an insane amount of charisma. It's the same two lovers go on the run story we've seen a thousand times, but it's an incredibly important debut feature because it's amazing to look at.

[DeadChannel]

I thought it was okay. It was very pretty and had a nice soundtrack, but found it overall lacking.
Might do a full review later.

[Goofle]

Sorry for not posting my thoughts yet. Unfortunate timing (holiday season). I do have it downloaded and will watch it tomorrow or Sunday night, with a review following.

[Exo]

Originally Posted by mordwyr

The Tree of Life -- a comet hits the earth and kills all the dinosaurs, and then some kid can't get along with his father.

Right, that's ALL that film is about.

So, I finally watched The Fountain. Sorry it took so long. I think that a Netlix limited selection of films may produce more contribution to these discussions. Speaking of discussions, I'm going to scatterbrain my thoughts on the film rather than write a detailed post so it's easier to discuss.

• Beautifully shot film. Aronofsky is obviously a talented filmmaker and while I didn't get much out of the more "cosmic" scenes, the darkly lit scenes in the lab and any scenes dealing with Hugh in Spain were gorgeous.
  
• I have actually been listening to Clint Mansell's score for years even though I haven't seen the film. This is mostly due to it having the Kronos Quartet helping out but the music in regards to the film just fit wonderfully. It made the emotional moments hit deeper.
• The emotional momenst however were a little too much for me. I really didn't get much background information from these two. The sheer acting ability for Jackman and Weiss was what hept me emotionally involved.
• That being said, the script was pretty weak. The ideas that were being brought to the table were thought invoking and deeply philosophical. The film dealt with the circle of life, death, life, the loss of loved ones, the desire to live forever. That is some serious sh*t. I felt that like in the film, the script planted a seed of intellectual discussion but could have been way more precise and tight when it came to fitting those concepts into the script.
• I liked the film. It is just extremely flawed. Most of the scences involving Jackman in his space bubble were hard to decipher what was going on. Personally, I believe this was his "limbo" state between each one of his lives, and that the woman that he loves in each life just so happens to be the same woman. I could be wrong, but that's what I got out of it.

I'd like to discuss the movie with you guys. Get your f*cking asses in here.