Beautiful Masterpieces just don't come by everyday

Rating: 10/10 (18 March 2007)

Every year there's the more or less provocative and philosophical film, that naturally, because of its contents tends to provoke two completely different opinions. Either you firmly defend it and love it, or you hate it and attack it. There's no way of escaping this dichotomy for the simple reason that a movie like the Fountain is a movie that is character driven and their proof of love requires an elevate suspension of disbelief from the viewer. If you are not one of those, than don't even consider watching this movie, but if you are, if you let yourself be carried away buy the beauty of the images, the intensity of the characters and the devotion to one purpose, than you will most certainly enjoy and praise the Fountain as much as I did. Quite frankly I cannot imagine Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett taking the place of Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. They took the characters and made them their own. Although Weisz is extraordinary in Izzy's skin, is Jackman's take on Tommy that is the true engine of the movie. He composes three different characters in three different approaches but with the same love driven obsession. I myself reckon that at the beginning the movie does suffer not only from unmanaged pace but also from the viewer's eventual detachment from the story. But although the movie runs for 90 minutes it is more than enough to tell three different stories. I reckon that Fountain haters might criticize it for narrative confusion and some questions left unanswered or not explained, but that's not its purpose. We are meant to believe and connect with these two characters and their motives, strengths, weaknesses and actions. And we do. Thanks to Aronofsky, Weisz but most specially to Jackmans true masterpiece and Clint Mansell. The Foutntain would not have been the same without him: his soundtrack is a poem of love, tragedy, loss and beauty that very rarely has Hollywood presented us.