Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain is receiving wildly mixed reviews, the kind of reviews that movies get when they’re too rich and complex to be understood after a single viewing. I saw it last night and have little doubt that it will be hailed in the future as a masterpiece. The movie cemented to me that Aronofksy is the new Kubrick — the only (American) director who can fill a film with intellectually-intense concepts and still keep you riveted by the story.

Many of the glowing reviews I’ve read have used the same expression — “a flawed masterpiece.” That’s a cheap phrase used by critics who admire a movie but want to withhold ultimate judgment until they see how it is received by others. The only flaw I could see is that, as with Kubrick films, the human characters can sometimes seem stilted or hyper-idealized. But to suggest that this is accidental is to assume that Aronofsky doesn’t ultimately know what he’s doing, and the amount of time and care put into every single shot of this film makes it clear to me that Aronofksy deserves the benefit of the doubt.

I wouldn’t recommend The Fountain to everyone. Although the core love story at its center is very accessible and emotionally involving, it is the kind of film that you really have to abandon your cynicism to fully enjoy. I can’t wait to see it again.

Update: In looking through the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I came across this brilliant piece of film analysis by Ray Bennett at The Hollywood Reporter:

Early in “The Fountain,” writer-director Darren Aronofsky’s flatulent dissertation on the benefits of dying, someone says, “Death is the path to awe.” Aw, shucks, isn’t that what suicide bombers are led to believe?

Congratulations, Bennett! You have just written the most idiotic two sentences in the history of criticism!