one of those rare films that makes the viewer work...

Rating: 10/10 (28 March 2014)

Do you recall the recurring scene in 1979's ALL THAT JAZZ where Scheider, playing Fosse in a movie actually directed by Fosse, starts each day in front a mirror, eye drops, cigarette, ablutions...? That scene, one of the most memorable not merely in the movie but in the history of cinema, had a pace, had a pulse, had an energy that drove the film. Some 20 years later (approximately) Aronofsky emerged on the film scene, as if out of nowhere, with PI, a black and white (!) film where (trust me if you have not seen it, AND THEN GO SEE IT) every single scene in the movie somehow, miraculously, had the exact same pace and energy as that iconic scene from ALL THAT JAZZ.
Such is the power of Aronofsky, his films are so unique, so different, so powerful, that you get a sense there is nothing in the filmic medium he could not do if he really wanted to; and moreover if any scene in any of his movies is less than perfect, it is not because he failed, it is because that is precisely how he wanted it.
THE FOUNTAIN is a case in point. The juxtaposed themes do, it's true, make the viewer work harder than almost any other film that comes to mind, but the payoff, the joy of discovery, is worth it. No wonder the studio's PR dept could not focus on a single theme in the ads -- how do you market a film that is equal parts love story; Buddha-like reincarnation tale; sci-fi time travel story; medical thriller; historical fiction...? And -- forgive me for the emphasis, I just watched the film again top to bottom -- the technical perfection is something to behold. The "action" scenes in the jungles of South America are as well filmed as the metaphysical (and visual) elevation of the lead character into the heavens at the very end.
Hugh Jackman (who, for better or worse, may be remembered by future viewers simply as Wolverine) gives the performance of his life; yet scene by scene he is yet outdone by Rachel Weisz, who, in this film travels as far from her paint-by-numbers MUMMY films as the constellations are from Earth. There are scenes, especially where she plays the Queen, where her face practically glows, and you wonder if this is CGI or Weisz, or both...? Astonishing.