Flawed Genius

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2007)

With this film, Aronovsky cements his reputation as America's most exciting new film-making talent.
Fountain is a flawed piece of work but pleasingly so. It is flawed through its sheer ambition, nearly (but not quite) biting off more than it can chew. There's quite a bit of digestion required though, especially at the end of the film. Not just by the audience, you can see that Aronovsky really racked his brains over the last 15 minutes as he tries to tie the story off. He succeeds...but only just. It doesn't have quite the arrogant, easy perfection of Requiem, but there's the same raw power, enhanced by the strain of a film-maker pushing his own talent to the limit, and if anything, moves up a notch on intellectual intensity.
His technical grasp is amazing, if you were impressed by Requiem, you're gonna be blown away here.
This is only his third major piece, but he's already in the company of the Jim Jarmuschs, Polanskis, and Wong Kar Wais.....and has a real chance of surpassing even those avant garde icons. Aronovsky's genius is breathtaking, precocious, and possibly unprecedented. If there's a filmmaker of greater genius...then I haven't come across him/her yet.