Oh man, so much snow.

Speaking of snow, Sara was mad the other day because I only wrote two sentences about The Fountain, while devoting multiple paragraphs to a product placement-laden franchise film. Which, yeah.

The thing is, I don’t really know how I felt about The Fountain. I haven’t seen Pi, so I can’t compare it to that, but I did think it was better than Requiem for a Dream. But, the things I liked about it are the same things that made people like Requiem: the writing’s not exceptional, but it’s shot with such verve and style. The actual storyline of Requiem, was, as I recall “Everyone has their own drug. Drugs are bad!”, but commercials are still using that series of quick cuts with the dilated pupils, which says something.

The present story of The Fountain is about this doctor who’s trying to find a cure for the disease (brain tumor?) his young wife is dying of; it’s all extended into this thing about how he can’t accept death. The 1500 AD story is about a conquistador who goes on the search for the secret to eternal life for the Queen of Spain. The future story is about a guy. Floating in a bubble. With a tree. In space. It is fantastically gorgeous to look at. Like, I don’t know how they did it; it didn’t all look like CGI — it looked like magic. Or at least an orb, floating through space. There were shots that were so heartbreakingly cool, like when evening stars dissolve into these floating candles in the Queen’s throne room, that you can’t help be impressed. So if you like movies that are pretty, it is a good one to see.

Also, the three different time periods could have been a mess, but it was pretty deftly handled; Aronofsky makes it clear from early on where each time period fits in. But, like I said before, Rachel Weisz isn’t so much a character as a pretty, saintly woman who’s at peace with her life. And explains the mythology at the core of the film. But yeah? Being a convincing person? Not so much. It’s kind of forgivable because a) we’re really in Hugh Jackman’s subjective position for most of the movie (and he does a really good job; I was never a fan before, but between this and The Illusionist The Prestige (duh), I’m convinced he’s at least really good at playing crazily obsessed dudes) and b) it’s kind of a parable as more than being a story about specific people living in a real world. That’s…not necessarily a bad thing: for instance, Amelie, which I love, does not take place in anything like the real world and it works. For it. Mainly because it was kind of a fairytale, and not full of pseudospiritual claptrap that first-year undergrad philosophy students will tell you is really “deep.” (It kind of combines stuff from different, apparently random religions, including Buddhism and Mayan mythology, and there’s a quote or two from the Bible thrown in? I think.)

So, in summary: I was pretty much rapt while watching it, but I don’t know if like, the big moral (semi-ironic SPOILER ALERT) that you know, people die and we have to accept that instead of fighting it with our wars and our crazy science is really saying anything new or special. I don’t normally judge movies that way — I don’t think Casino Royale said anything — but The Fountain was presented on such a grand scale, it’s hard not to feel a bit let down by the film’s big wisdom. In other words, don’t go see this Hugh Jackman movie if you want to learn the meaning of life. But…it’s pretty interesting.

Speaking of fountains: did you hear I get running water again? Huzzah!