Director: Darren Aronofsky
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 0.5
So much razzle dazzle, so little heart - Aronofsky knows his way around a camera, but when it comes to making a convincing love story between doomed writer Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman, he fails. The same technical compliments could very well be applied to the director's first two features, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, which were stunning but soulless, and here when it comes to chemistry and believability, it's quite clear Weisz and Jackman are trying to act. The on-screen mish-mosh of symbols and mysticism and flights of fancy is so pretentious it invites laughter - there are bloody, screaming ancient warriors and monkey brains and Hugh Jackman floating around as a glowing, hairless god and, of course, one of the year's most memorable images: the unforgettable sight of Jackman gobbling down tree ejaculate and turning into foliage. It's almost a good thing I saw this in the theatre ... if I were in my bedroom the DVD would have been removed from my player part of the way through and chucked it down the hallway.
