A Deceptive Trip of a Promising Director

Rating: 4/10 (9 September 2007)

When "Requiem for a Dream" was released in Brazil, Darren Aronofsky became a sensation among the lovers of cinema. The cult "Pi" was immediately released on the trail of the success of "Requiem for a Dream". I confess that I had great expectations with "The Fountain" and I usually categorized Darren Aronofsky, together with Alejandro Amenábar and Alejandro González Iñárritu, the three best new directors of the cinema industry. However, the visually beautiful "The Fountain" is a boring mess, actually a deceptive trip of a promising director. Individually, the story of the scientist researching the cure of cancer to save his wife Izzi using a South American tree and a monkey is nice; he spends more time in the laboratory than with his beloved wife, and when he finds the cure, it is too late to recover the lost time that he could have spent with Izzi. The story in the medieval Spain that Izzi is writing is also attractive. However, the story of the man in a bubble in outer space is surrealist and seems to be the inner feelings of the scientist trying to save his love. Unfortunately the interconnection of the three stories never works. I hope that Darren Aronofsky has a different fate from M. Night Shyamalan, who made the successful "The Sixth Sense" in the beginning of his career and deceptive movies later on. My vote is four.
Title (Brazil): "Fonte da Vida" ("Fountain of the Life")