An incredible movie filled with meaning and wonder! Next?

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2007)

I have been anxiously looking forward to this movie from the time it was originally announced approximately five years ago. I was totally engrossed by 'Pi,' and became a certified Aronofsky fan when 'Requim For A Dream' came out on DVD (it never appeared in any local theaters and Lancaster is not exactly a small town. There are about 28-30 screens in Lancaster.). with 'The Fountain' finally being released on DVD I was just hoping that my expectations weren't so high that almost anything was going to be disappointing. I am glad to report that the movie was all I had hoped for and then some. As I write this I find myself still sifting through various parts of the movie in my mind and plan on watching it a second time tonight, hopefully being able to clear up a few things that I'm still a bit unsure of.
What really amazes me however is the group of people who try to rip it down as nothing more than "mind candy." If you don't like the movie that is okay, but I do have a problem with people who insist that it is junk and that nobody should enjoy it. The suggestions that Aronofsky was trying to make a movie that was mind bending to the point of being nonsensical is absolute rubbish. I think Aronofsky made a movie with a great deal of thought in regard to very big and complex themes. My own very quick interpretation of this great film goes likes this. I believe that the parts that took place in the 1500's are not real but come from Izzi's unfinished book, and since Izzi wrote it, the parts of Tomas and the Queen are based on Tom and Izzi of the present. When she show's Tom the Nebula and the story of the death of a star and the rebirth, she is at that point telling Tom, without telling Tom, how to finish the book. And she is also telling Tom that she is now unafraid of death because she is confident that life is truly eternal. She even tells Tom that she will always be with him, but that it is up to Tom to be able to come to that understanding on his own. The part that takes place in the future is Aronofsky's way of telling this to the viewer. Whether the portion of the film that takes place in the future is real or imagined is up to the viewer. Either way it still delivers the same message. At it's very depth I believe Aronofsky's tale is one that every human wrestles with. Death! Is death final, or does the soul/spirit continue to exist. I believe that is the overriding theme of the film and it is up to each individual to interpret it as they see fit.
The metaphors in the movie are many and far reaching. The role of the inquisitor. The meaning of the ring. The tree of life itself and how it is used in the future to sustain him and in the present as a potential cure. The hairs that are raised when he reaches his fingers out towards the tree itself and the hairs on Izzi's neck. The movie is almost intoxicating in it's own way.
My question for fans of the movie is this. Other than what is all ready scheduled what book or author would you most like to see Aronofsky take on in the future. I would love to see him work with fellow Brooklynite, author Paul Auster. Some of Don Delilo's early work would translate well to the screen with the right director(guess who I have in mind). I think his visual interpretation of anything by Albert Camus would be well worth the effort. For a dark comic twist I would enjoy seeing him work with a Thomas Berger novel. Thomas Pynchon and Aronofsky would be interesting. In the end his ideas are so original he probably doesn't need the help, but I still find it interesting to contemplate. An Aynn Rand book could be interesting (although as I grow older I find Rand to be less and less relevant). One last idea would what he would do with Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's great book 'One Hundred Years of Solitude.' This has run on far too much all ready, but I would really like to hear what you would like to see him do in the future? Thanks.