Much better the 2nd time

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2007)

I saw this in the theatre and wanted to berate Aronofsky for what I thought was a completely pitiful plot and in general a piece of garbage. In fact I posted a review on another website after seeing it originally, that was very similar to most of the people who have given it a 1 star rating.
When it came out on DVD I decided to see it again because - to have despised it so much I thought there had to be something that I identified with but was rejected for some reason. Similar to the overly zealous homophobe who's really just a closet homosexual and doesn't yet know it. That actually turned out to be the case as I picked up on quite a few things I didn't pick up on the first time and saw what I thought to be a pretty cool story line. I guess you could say - in coming to like this movie, I metaphorically came out of the closet. With this movie you either love it or hate it.
In seeing it the 2nd time I have to say I appreciated it much more. Visually it's a stunning movie and although it does not use dialogue to explain the plot it does use imagery and metaphor quite a bit.
This is my belief on the story line. The past was simply the story Izzi had written and that Tommy finishes in time. There were many symbols that overlapped from the present and the future which makes me believe that the future is a real story line. It starts off with Tommy in the present finding a cure to cancer but just a bit too late. Devastated he vows to cure death because it's a "disease" and so he gets to work in the lab. I mean in his mind he's thinking - well if I can cure cancer I can cure death. This is where everyone else leaves him in the lab and in turning off the lights leave him in darkness. He plants the seed over her grave, which - in line with the Mayan belief melds with her body.
Next we find him again in darkness - in his space bubble. He has with him of all things a tree - which as I see it is most likely the tree that once grew over Izzi's grave - now melded with her body. It even has the little hairs on it that stood up when he got close and spoke to it - just like Izzi. We find him in space with - interestingly - the same tattoo ring mark that he had in the present and at the end his ring. The ring tattoos up his arms are the accounting of years or maybe decades. This journey is from my best guess an attempt to die and be reborn with her in the explosion of the star. Full circle. He had to die to live again and possibly find Izzi again.
I can't leave out the possibility that I'm just reaching for meaning in these story lines and that this movie could be what I originally thought it to be - as 3 disjointed stories that go nowhere. Although now I do believe the story to be cryptic one cloaked in beautiful imagery and metaphor.