The other day we reported that the new Darren Aronofsky film, The Fountain, got a round of boos from the audience at the Venice Film Festival. Pretty confusing considering that expectations for this film are so high. Critics have been split on it as well. Some love it… some hated it.
But now you can add The Toronto International Film Festival as another audience that didn’t like the film too much. According to the good folks over at slashfilm the reception was cold:
In Toronto, about 25 people walked out and some movie-goers even hissed when the movie was screened on Monday. Both festival screenings were completely packed. Around the 90 minute mark is when the walk-outs started. According to SCIFI, the audience in one theater hissed after the final scene. Critics called the film “incomprehensible.
Yikes! I thought that maybe the Venice reaction was just an fluke… one bad audience perhaps. But maybe not. Could this film really be that bad? My good friend Tood over at Twitch doesn’t think so. He loved it:
a film like 2001 and Bladerunner that changed understandings of what the genre was capable of, a film that redefines the language of science fiction. Rich with dazzling imagery, elegaic in its bold embrace of large issues, built around a tragic romance and an effortless fusion of Mayan myth with Judeo-Christian faith, The Fountain is an out and out brilliant step forward from Aronofsky.
So who knows? But reaction has been pretty extreme on both sides. People seem to either totally love it… or… as in the case of the Toronto and Venice crowds… totally and 100% HATE it. This division is just making me more interested in seeing it, but I must confess my expectations for the film have dropped a couple of notches.
