Mesmerising and Profound.

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2007)

I don't know how to describe this film really. You can tell within the first 10 minutes that this is going to be something different and indeed it is. This is not a movie for the 2-second-attention-span/Big dumb explosion brigade. It doesn't hold your hand with bland exposition and it doesn't give you all the pieces of the puzzle so you can neatly fit them altogether and go away with answers to all your questions.
What it does give you though is a deep and thought provoking experience surrounding the issues of mortality and how we deal with it. There were a lot of things in this movie that I didn't really understand but it managed to touch me at a level I can't quite define. Like 2001:A Space Odyssey I think there were parts of this film that were deliberately left ambiguous in order to give the story some mystery and wonder.
The cinematography was absolutely beautiful as well and I can't believe the movie was made for $35m dollars, it looks far more expensive.
It has to be said that the acting across the board was exceptional too with Hugh Jackman being of particular note although I really can't take Ethan Suplee seriously in the kind of role he had after seeing him in My Name is Earl but thankfully his part isn't too distracting.
I don't think Brad Pitt would have done half the job Hugh Jackman did in this movie. I heard he left because of creative differences and I can imagine Aronofsky saying "Look Brad this is my movie, I'm gonna do it my way, if you don't like it then f**k off." and Brad being the ego his is couldn't let someone else have control so left, the big wuss. Well our gain since I think "The Fountain - The Brad Pitt cut" would have been crap quite frankly.