“The Fountain” flows with compelling beauty

After six years of not releasing a movie, Darren Aronofsky, the director of “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream”, released “The Fountain”. This movie was amazing, regardless of its small budget. The movie starred Hugh Jackman as Rachel Weisz in both sixteenth century Spain and present day Canada. Jackman is a captain of the Spanish Conquistadors and is brought to see the Queen Isabella, played by Weisz who requested him to seek out the mysterious Tree of Life, which is located deep within the Mayan jungle in Guatemala.

Aronofsky also delves into the current life of Tommy and Izzi, who are married. Izzi has cancer and Tommy, now a scientist, is busy researching a cure for his wife. Tommy conducts experiments in his lab to try to find a cure to reverse brain tumors. The way Aronofsky directs this movie and creates the two interacting stories simultaneously is moving, but also requires a bit of thought from the audience. The third parallel of Tommy floating in space towards a nebula is part of both stories at the same time, and the viewer must wait until the end to understand the entire movie completely.

The detail that went into this movie was amazing. The details and imagery he uses while telling the story from Spain is impressive. For example, Tommy is walking down a hallway to the Queen’s throne and all the lanterns appear to be floating in mid-air. Even though there was a small budget for this film, it did not show at all. There might be a small criticism about some of the repeating clips, but they had relevance into the overall story.

The film greatly reminds me of works by David Lynch, such as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive”, and the story telling is similar to the way the ending of “Donnie Darko” explains the movie. “The Fountain” has a deep feeling of life, death, and rebirth to it. The complexity of the story will definitely keep you engaged. If you are expecting a sci-fi movie like “The Matrix”, you will definitely be disappointed, but this movie is one to see and will keep you thinking even after the movie has finished.