The Fountain (2006)

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 2019)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, Cliff Curtis, Sean Patrick Thomas, Ethan Suplee, Donna Murphy, Stephen McHattie. (PG-13)
The tale of a scientist (Jackman) working on a medical discovery to save his cancer-stricken wife (Weisz), interwoven with stories set in the distant past (conquistador searching for the tree of life) and future (last living man traveling through space with a different tree, aged and dying). Spanning roughly 1,000 years (though the latter two tales are fictional within the film's universe), this ambitious sci-fi/fantasy film certainly has some striking imagery and heady ideas about resisting and accepting death, but it falls short on emotional resonance--the lead characters have little depth and are drawn as totemic by the expansive canvas--and nearly every leap into the ethereal is a soggy muddle. Jumbles various religious and philosophical traditions (New Age, Buddhism, Mayan mythology, Christian beliefs, etc.) without exploring any of them beneath the surface; might have benefited from a more comprehensive survey, but even at only about an hour-and-a-half in length, it starts to drag by the home stretch. Resembles one of those novels deemed "unfilmable" but someone went ahead and tried anyway (except this is an original screen story).
42/100