I'm speechless.

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2008)

This is a bleak, remorseless movie. It is so bleak, remorseless and depressing that I can't even really find words to say about it in a review. If director Darren Aronofsky's 2006 masterpiece The Fountain was the essence of love, eternal life and vigorous spirit, this movie is every bit the antithesis of those more positive themes.
Aronofsky's directing is every bit as compelling as on his later work, starting off dreary, hazy and even comical in a twisted sort of fashion, but before you even realize it's happening, the storytelling is quickly contorted into a demented mad carnival-esquire thrill ride, finally fading out into a sorrowful, monotone-gray ending that will leave you thinking, depressed, and most of all, changed.
The four main characters in the film are not deeply shaded with character development and intricate backgrounds. In contrast, the characters here are not really given colorful and detailed backgrounds, and we are provided with just sprinkles and minor tidbits of their pasts, making it very hard to know the meaning behind their motives and actions, and also making it so that we aren't going to start pitying these characters - we can fully see the consequences of their actions, not blinded by any misgivings we might have about what "good people they all are underneath." It creates a very shady atmosphere, Aronofsky has a talent for creating beautiful films on such scanty character development and plot background, and it's another part of what makes this good.
This is a masterful film, and I can't really assign a rating to it...it's beyond all that. Not essential, but if you want a compelling, emotional, and endearing film that will tug at your heartstrings while making you reel back in revolted disgust, and also provide something thought provoking and dense, get this. It might not be something you'll be in the mood for all the time, but when you do go back to it, it will remain as powerful as before.