3 stories occurring at 3 different time periods that seem unrelated at first but tie together by the end of the film

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2006)

I got passes to see an advanced screening of this in Boston, and then got to meet Aronofsky after the screening and ask him about the film. I absolutely adored his earlier work (PI and Requiem for a Dream), but as he said at the beginning of the Screening "For those of you here to see requiem for a dream part II, go home, this is not it." That comment best gets you ready to see this movie. It takes place during 3 different time periods, simultaneously and actually pulls it off!!! It doesn't have as much of the Hip-Hop montage that Darren is known for in his other films, but while watching, you can still tell it is one of his films. Aronofsky has evolved as a Director and the Fountain is a shinning example of his evolution. It is BY FAR one of the best movies to come out of Hollywood in a VERY long time. It's hard to believe that it came together as well as it did after it was dropped by the studio a few years ago as being "an impossible movie to make" and it took Darren 7 months of coffee and late nights to finally rewrite and re-story board the entire film and convince the studio to give him another chance! Another interesting thing to note is that there is only 1 CGI used in the entire movie (which considering it's amazing visuals is very hard to believe). Instead, he hired a chemist so that he could film the Trippe backgrounds through a microscope (much like 2001 a space Odyssey)and give the film a more natural feel. Another cool fact is that Darren is tone mute, which means he can identify the difference between different musical notes but can't differentiate them when he tries to reproduce them (like singing or playing instruments). He said that he spent almost as much time on the script as he did working with the Kronos Quartet on the soundtrack and that the soundtrack was finished BEFORE any shooting for the film occurred. All in all I believe that The Fountain is a MUST SEE for ANY movie goer this year, as it's by far the best movie of the year. This is one of those films that stays with you a long time, even after the film has finished. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!