Quite rich (though slow) buffet of ideas

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2007)

(Contains spoilers about the ideas in film, which where the main event here, not what characters said or did) (I.e. DEFINITELY contains spoilers)
Aronofski certainly has made this movie a worthwhile 1+ (2?) hours, as there are some ideas you can grapple with for even some time after seeing the movie: There's the idea of being immortalized through a work of art - like a book. There's the idea of living forever as one universal life-force through biology (the metaphor in the movie about a tree growing on a human grave, thereby being fed by human organic remains). There's the idea of death simply being just another disease which we have not found cure against yet. And also, more in today's context, there's the message for war against cancer.
Probably more ideas to be found.
The ideas or rather background for ideas and idea-inklings were developed as the movie progressed and brought on stage in the finale. If one is to quibble, the finale lasted too long, but what the heck. The director sure took its time with the narrative, which was for most of the time good, the ideas were not rushed in for enjoyable rides sake.
The ideas, plot or the movie as a whole progressed in three dimensions: 1. our real world and present day(ish), 2. world of fiction, 3. some metaphysical parallel universe. Now if someone would like to explain whether the flying in space bubble bit was the future and actual space-ride, I'm all ears.
The acting was great, by mostly Hugh Jackman, simply phenomenal. Weisz was ordinary self and Stephen McHattie made a great religion-nut.