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emkoshka's review against another edition
3.0
Unlike other readers, all I've seen of the film is the trailer. There is a limitation in confining yourself to reading the book first if the original concept was actually designed for film, but I got enough of a sense of the pace, plotting and structure from the graphic novel to see it unfold like a film. I was quite moved by the passionate and enduring love of a man for a woman, something that seems so rare these days. And it kept me thinking and turning things over in my mind, just like the best creative works do. :)
bengriffin's review against another edition
3.0
I read this a few months ago and already barely remember the story. I do remember it being a bit pretentious and trying too hard to be profound. The artwork is stunning, however, both kinetic and dreamy at once. I wouldn't buy it, but it was a pleasant enough way to pass an hour on the till at work.
torts's review against another edition
2.0
I don't think making something vague and constantly making allusions to death and eternity makes it deep, and I don't think having quasi-incomplete-looking drawings of mildly repulsive-looking people (seriously, they all look smudgy and kind of deformed and the colors are rarely constrained by the shaky lines...) constitutes beautiful art. I'm a fan of color, and while I can appreciate muted smudgy misshapen things for their own distinct form of beauty, it's a little tiresome and definitely not essential as a stylistic choice for the entire story.
There were definitely decent moments, and the panels were occasionally pretty, but it seemed kind of like a hollow attempt at being "epic" to me. The scenes set in Spain dragged on, and the dialogue was embarrassingly melodramatic--which I guess is a part of comic books, even if they are pretentiousing it up and calling themselves "graphic novels."
Also, I didn't really see the Spain storyline as being "true," which seems to be the accepted interpretation of it. I kind of just saw the modern-day storyline as the real one, the Spain one as the woman's story and the futuristic one as the man's way of coming to terms with his mortality. Which is interesting, I guess, but could have been better executed, especially if the vagueness of these stories' interrelatedness was unintentional.
There was something fundamental missing from every aspect of the comic book: the dialogue was flat, the drawings looked incomplete, the narration was minimal and redundant, the characters' motivations were unclear, and the sound-effect words in the panels were hilariously cheesy when they were probably intended to be cinematic (e.g. the part where they're battling up a pyramid thing and the word "doom" is written all over those pages. subtle.)...
So The Fountain pretty much failed. Which is a shame, because I think it had potential (potential that was occasionally--but oh so rarely--showcased). Maybe if Clive Barker had done the illustrations, it would have turned out better... (I can imagine him doing some pretty glorious stuff with the trees, and definitely adding some vibrancy to this dull and overrated book.)
P.S. I reviewed this edition, even though it wasn't the one I read--I read the one with the writhing naked people on the cover--because this cover art is more along the lines of what I consider visually appealing.
There were definitely decent moments, and the panels were occasionally pretty, but it seemed kind of like a hollow attempt at being "epic" to me. The scenes set in Spain dragged on, and the dialogue was embarrassingly melodramatic--which I guess is a part of comic books, even if they are pretentiousing it up and calling themselves "graphic novels."
Also, I didn't really see the Spain storyline as being "true," which seems to be the accepted interpretation of it. I kind of just saw the modern-day storyline as the real one, the Spain one as the woman's story and the futuristic one as the man's way of coming to terms with his mortality. Which is interesting, I guess, but could have been better executed, especially if the vagueness of these stories' interrelatedness was unintentional.
There was something fundamental missing from every aspect of the comic book: the dialogue was flat, the drawings looked incomplete, the narration was minimal and redundant, the characters' motivations were unclear, and the sound-effect words in the panels were hilariously cheesy when they were probably intended to be cinematic (e.g. the part where they're battling up a pyramid thing and the word "doom" is written all over those pages. subtle.)...
So The Fountain pretty much failed. Which is a shame, because I think it had potential (potential that was occasionally--but oh so rarely--showcased). Maybe if Clive Barker had done the illustrations, it would have turned out better... (I can imagine him doing some pretty glorious stuff with the trees, and definitely adding some vibrancy to this dull and overrated book.)
P.S. I reviewed this edition, even though it wasn't the one I read--I read the one with the writhing naked people on the cover--because this cover art is more along the lines of what I consider visually appealing.
meepelous's review against another edition
4.0
A hauntingly beautiful and heart wrenching graphic novel that suffers from an overly concise back-cover synopsis. I don't think you really should read this story for the plot, because it is rather jumpy and not explained and doesn't really seem to line up very well with the synopsis. Instead I found it much more meaningful to just let myself get lost in the theme - passionate love ripped away too soon.
rsurban's review against another edition
3.0
In 2002, director Darren Aronofsky planned to make a movie based on his script called “The Fountain”, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Seven weeks before filming was to start, Pitt backed out of the project and it was shelved indefinitely. Finally, in early 2005, the director re-launched the project at a production cost of $35 million (half the original budget), with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz taking over the starring roles. But before Aronofsky got the green light to film the movie which has now become something of a cult classic, he felt so strongly that he need to tell this story of a man’s confrontation with mortality that he collaborated with artist Kent Williams on realizing the tale as a graphic novel. And while, for the uninitiated, the graphic novel probably seems like an intriguing combination of metaphysical treatise and Goya-inspired, chaotic and colorful illustration, for those of us who were transfixed and moved by the 2006 film, it cannot hope to capture that version’s power and operatic emotionalism.
Perhaps it is unfair to compare a story told via two such disparate mediums…but in fact, both deal with the frame of information, with film conveying an illusion of motion, while the graphic novel/comic can be seen as an attempt to distill this motion to its most concentrated moments of meaning (comic artist Scott McCloud calls his medium "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or to produce and aesthetic response in the viewer.") And while the graphic novel tends to heighten the abstract qualities of the narrative via a more painterly depiction of the energy of the story with its slashing lines and boiling color palette, the movie tends to root even its most fantastical qualities in a precise, detailed photo-realistic style. But where the novel really cannot compete with the movie is in the very real and human qualities that the actors bring to the story. The grief, the madness, the glory and ultimate transcendence of the lives of Tomas/Tom/Tommy and Isobel/Izzy are beautifully, fully realized by the performances of Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. In the graphic novel these characters are mere abstractions compared to the flesh-and-blood human beings we relate to in the film. What the book of The Fountain makes up in story detail, it loses in its inability to move us in the profound way that Aronofsky’s film does.
So, if you are a fan of the film, or a completist, or care to compare how the medium shapes the message and narrative of a story, by all means, pick up the graphic novel; be assured, though, that the real EXPERIENCE to be had is by watching the film. I’m supremely grateful that Darren Aronofsky succeeded in finally committing his vision to film, for it is indeed a singularly sensual and emotional experience, and one of the very best films of the new century.
Perhaps it is unfair to compare a story told via two such disparate mediums…but in fact, both deal with the frame of information, with film conveying an illusion of motion, while the graphic novel/comic can be seen as an attempt to distill this motion to its most concentrated moments of meaning (comic artist Scott McCloud calls his medium "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or to produce and aesthetic response in the viewer.") And while the graphic novel tends to heighten the abstract qualities of the narrative via a more painterly depiction of the energy of the story with its slashing lines and boiling color palette, the movie tends to root even its most fantastical qualities in a precise, detailed photo-realistic style. But where the novel really cannot compete with the movie is in the very real and human qualities that the actors bring to the story. The grief, the madness, the glory and ultimate transcendence of the lives of Tomas/Tom/Tommy and Isobel/Izzy are beautifully, fully realized by the performances of Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. In the graphic novel these characters are mere abstractions compared to the flesh-and-blood human beings we relate to in the film. What the book of The Fountain makes up in story detail, it loses in its inability to move us in the profound way that Aronofsky’s film does.
So, if you are a fan of the film, or a completist, or care to compare how the medium shapes the message and narrative of a story, by all means, pick up the graphic novel; be assured, though, that the real EXPERIENCE to be had is by watching the film. I’m supremely grateful that Darren Aronofsky succeeded in finally committing his vision to film, for it is indeed a singularly sensual and emotional experience, and one of the very best films of the new century.
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