Finish it

I just watched The Fountain, showing for the first time on British digital tv. The day and the hour that they chose to show this film reflects that it was a bit of a flop - it cost a lot to make, the actors and director involved generated a lot of hype, and then the majority of the reviews were average to negative. Not all of them. This was one of the rare occasions where film critics were really divided - a few thought it was a brave attempt at something different, or that it was well directed. The dude from the Radio Times gave it five stars, which is why I gave it a go tonight, but he's made a career of saying the complete opposite to everyone else. It was genuinally seen as a misguided, flawed and overambitious mess. Crucially, the words 'pretentious' and 'self-indulgent' were used in early reviews, and appearing snobby is one thing that many reviewers of today fall over themselves to avoid, so it was beaten into box office oblivion, almost as if they were afraid of it.

I suppose I'm saying this to remind myself that I shouldn't always go along with what the critics say. I'm far too easily influenced by what is fashionable with my favourite writers, whether it be in book and film taste, or in political views. Often I bluff my way through life trying to sound far more intelligent and well-read than I really am by copying the opinions of people I think are more clever (or, to my shame, more popular) than me.

So, The Fountain is a great film. Yes, it is very different, it is more like three movies in one, with the relationship between the three parts not clear cut (present, future and story? But more than that, as they bleed into each other at unexpected moments). But it's not pretentious, or over-ambitious. If anything the unusual struture if one of the clearest ways of capturing experiences such as grief, the moments before death, and love, where a linear tale doesn't seem sufficient. I can't remember who said it, but it's true that our minds don't work that way, they're constantly flicking back and forth - present, past, a dozen different daydreams, stories and possibilities. Why should books and films be any different? Why must movies be expected to 'make sense', with a beginning, a middle, and an end that nicely ties everything up? Life rarely works in that way. Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman were really, really good, and it was visually stunning. Sometimes I don't understand critics.