Imaginative but jumbled; perhaps needs more than 90min...

Rating: 6/10 (13 July 2007)

The Fountain is imaginative and distinctive in it's look, and features vigorous acting from Hugh Jackman. It reminded me of something like a "good" version of "The Cell". Unfortunately, The Fountain at times feels like it's trying to cram in 3 movies into one 90 min session. Without any foreknowledge of what the story is, it took some 15-20 min to come to grips with the maker's reality or narrative.... Not too good for me, tried my patience. There is a pretty clear message of a cyclical meaning in life and death - they support one another and are linked. However, for me, whenever religion, faith, or spirituality permeate into explanations, it's a bit of let-down. I'm one more for reasoning and logic. Going back to medieval Spain with inquisitors and dark ages type setting is interesting as narrative, but not as an explanation really. Another thing is because of all the jumping around, I never quite empathized with the main 2 characters - they don't get much of a chance to develop, but rather are thrown onto us. Still the look is vivid and dreamlike - the filmmakers at least dared to make something less clichéd even though jumbled.