I thought it was very pretty and an awesomely subversive deconstruction of how we deal with death, but I'll accept the possibility that the latter wasn't what the filmmakers intended and they really did fill the whole film with new age claptrap for its own reasons alone.
However, if you recognize that the Conquistador and Space Bubble stories exist only within the book and then look at them as reflective of the two characters that are writing them, suddenly what seems extreme and even farcical begins to reveal and comment upon threads within our collective approaches to death, life, the universe and everything. There are no shortage of cues in the film to do this, the conversation in the museum is especially key --- it's saying "look at why Izzi is writing the Conquistador story the way she is writing it." And if we're doing that, then it follows to take the same lens to the parts written by Tommy. The Fountain isn't trying to sell the New Age claptrap, it's trying to trace where that thread is coming from, how it relates to the Old Age claptrap, and what it tells us or at least what it makes us feel about ourselves as social, spiritual and, yes, mortal beings.
Undoubtedly flawed, the whole project could be argued to have overreached itself rather severely (except of course in the visuals, which are some of the greatest ever committed to film despite/thanks to their very non-digital techniques), but it's not inscrutable or just a bunch of flakey alt-religious bunk. You may have to "read" the film as well as watch it to catch it all, but there is something coherent being presented there if you're patient.
And, no, I'm not an English or Philosophy major. Also, I haven't seen the new Die Hard yet, but I'll no doubt enjoy it when I do.
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timeasmymeasure
well...
Date: 2007-07-04 12:24 am (UTC)However, if you recognize that the Conquistador and Space Bubble stories exist only within the book and then look at them as reflective of the two characters that are writing them, suddenly what seems extreme and even farcical begins to reveal and comment upon threads within our collective approaches to death, life, the universe and everything. There are no shortage of cues in the film to do this, the conversation in the museum is especially key --- it's saying "look at why Izzi is writing the Conquistador story the way she is writing it." And if we're doing that, then it follows to take the same lens to the parts written by Tommy. The Fountain isn't trying to sell the New Age claptrap, it's trying to trace where that thread is coming from, how it relates to the Old Age claptrap, and what it tells us or at least what it makes us feel about ourselves as social, spiritual and, yes, mortal beings.
Undoubtedly flawed, the whole project could be argued to have overreached itself rather severely (except of course in the visuals, which are some of the greatest ever committed to film despite/thanks to their very non-digital techniques), but it's not inscrutable or just a bunch of flakey alt-religious bunk. You may have to "read" the film as well as watch it to catch it all, but there is something coherent being presented there if you're patient.
And, no, I'm not an English or Philosophy major. Also, I haven't seen the new Die Hard yet, but I'll no doubt enjoy it when I do.