The futility of mortality. Yawn.

Rating: 5/10 (30 January 2008)

After the paranoid, art-house appeal of 'Pi' and the gorgeous viscerality of 'Requiem for a Dream', above, with merciful breviloquence (to save anyone who might be tempted to rent this), is the message Darren Aaronovsky's most recent offering attempts to convey to the world. And convey it, the film certainly does. The problem here is like all philosophical penmanship, it can be written on the back of a mustardseed.
Even at an MTV-generation-friendly 96mins, there simply is too much film and not nearly enough dramatic interest to sustain the attention of even the Gautama Buddha. Aaronovsky may gain some comfort from the fact that there have been many greater artists before him who, in over-reaching for profundity, on occasion, have failed in their most basic of dramatic duties - which, when are attended to in The Fountain, are done so with lamentable wealth of clichés and bi-dimensional characterisation.
As for The Fountain as transcendental cinema, what, exactly, can it be said to transcend? One might as well call 'Jurassic Park' transcendental, but at least there were lots of hungry dinosaurs running around a bloody island. We forgive you Darren. Try not to let it happen again. 5/10