If your movie is so obscure as to alienate viewers, you've failed as a director.

Rating: 4/10 (16 January 2013)

The Fountain. Ninety minutes of overly pretentious, pompous nonsense that tries to convince you it is art. Well, it sure does look very nicely filmed and many scenes are very artistic.
Sadly, that is where it also fails the hardest. It's as if so much attention was paid to trying to make it look good that they failed to really do much of anything with such movie staples as plot, script, dialogue etc.
Yes, I know. It IS supposed to be an art piece. But that's the problem. Some movies can be art, but not all art can be a movie. In this case, this is a clear instance of the latter, rather than the former.
The Fountain comes across as directionless and shallow fairly early on. It isn't really anything like so poor, but by the time you are supposed to be thinking hard about what is going on, you've already switched off. Almost nothing is explained with any clarity and, in fact, the whole thing comes across as a self-indulgent mess.
Only the current day section is real, which is what most people miss. The rest are flights of fancy by either Izzy or Tommy. However, this isn't immediately apparent from the movie. I understand that the budget was slashed in half, which can't have done it any favors. A little bit more kindness in the cutting room might have made things a little more obvious, but that isn't what happened. As a result, the entire movie feels disjointed and rushed.
My problem with the film stems entirely from the poor way it is presented to audiences. Most people should simply not watch a movie like this, but, obviously, that does not rake in the dollars for the studios. So the movie was mis-represented prior to release to make it seem appealing to a wider audience. It doesn't, and never will have, mass market appeal.
Does it appeal to me? Not really. I like movies that make you think. Here, however, even I met my limit. It just tries too hard and gives very little back to its audience for their efforts.
At the box office, it failed even with a budget cut. $35 million to produce and only $16 million in worldwide receipts. How this one slipped through test-screening results is anyone's guess, but Aranofsky got away without it damaging his career too badly. I guess Black Swan redeemed him in the eyes of the studios, too, since it had such a massive profit margin. However, I hope he learned something from this film's failure.
SUMMARY: Overblown nonsense, too cerebral for most audiences, art masquerading as a film when, in fact, it should have been a film all along. Really a movie for those who want to name drop to make themselves look clever.