Jim Jones from Jonestown. Hugh Jackman in The Fountain._________
Hugh Jackman has been making up for all that time he was off the screen and shaking his bon bon on Broadway playing gay icon Peter Allen in the musical The Boy From Oz. So far this year we've seen the studly Mr. Jackman in Scoop, X Men: The Last Stand and The Prestige ( and his Aussie-accented voice is also featured in both Flushed Away and Happy Feet ) . Now comes The Fountain in which Jackman has the most satisfying role of the lot. The film, director Darren Aronofsky's long-awaited follow-up to the indie hit Requiem for a Dream, gives Jackman one of the richest parts of his career. Whether audiences will appreciate it, however—or this sad, poetic movie—remains to be seen.
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The Fountain, beautifully shot in shades of gold and black, has three parallel stories that take place a thousand years apart. The movie takes on big themes—love, death, spirituality, eternal life—but for me its emphasis on the metaphysical was at times too earnest, maudlin and altogether too literal. However, its poignant and rather persuasive tone, strong performances from the leads, and stunning visuals are going to make it one of those movies that people will go to the mat over.
Jackman throws himself into his three roles, Tomas, Tommy, and Tom Creo. In the first, he is a Spanish explorer trying to find the fountain of youth at the behest of his beautiful queen, Isabel. In the second, he is a scientist desperately trying to find a miracle elixir to cure his cancer-riddled but peaceful wife Izzi, and in the third, he's a bald-headed man from either the future or another plane of consciousness. In either case, he seems to live at the base of the tree of life inside a giant snow globe floating in space that offers spectacular views of the nearby solar system. Rachel Weisz plays his three female counterparts and Ellyn Burstyn has a small role as the empathetic doctor in charge of the experimental drug clinic where Jackman is looking for the cure for Weisz's cancer.
Both Jackman and Weisz give nuanced performances in what is, stripped to the basics, a gloomy weepie—a reverse version of Dying Young—and on that level the movie delivers emotionally ( so yes, bring along the tissues ) . And though the film ( which Aronofsky wrote as well as directed ) focuses on a quest for eternal life, it seems at times to instead be a love letter to eternal death—the same creepy feeling one gets from listening to the Blue Oyster Cult classic Don't Fear the Reaper hangs over the movie as surely as those tree branches over Jackman.
The 'forever and ever' stuff was OK by me but then, when the film moved into its last section as the music swelled and the snow globe and Jackman started to ascend through the heavens ( kinda like Grizabella on the tire in Cats ) , I thought, 'Oh dear—well, it's just too literal. Some things just can't be shown, I guess.' But I can imagine circumstances in which this sort of stuff might work or even be inspirational—if one had recently dropped acid or some other hallucinogenic, say, or were touring one of those hi-tech art museums and taking in one of the exhibits. That last sequence killed for me what up to then had been a pretty involving albeit fancy schmancy tale of Doomed Romance along the lines of Love Story.
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Nov. 18 marked a terrible anniversary—the 28th—of the Guyana tragedy in which 909 members of the Peoples Temple and their insane leader, Jim Jones, died in a mass suicide/murder over which Jones presided. The members of Jones' cult had traveled to Guyana from San Francisco just a year earlier, seeking a better way of life for their integrated ( the congregation was 80% Black ) , Socialist-based group.
The story of the rise of Jones and what happened in Guyana has been the stuff of countless books and an excellent TV movie with Powers Booth riveting in the title role ( and Veronica Cartwright also magnificent as Jones' put-upon wife ) . Now filmmaker Stanley Nelson has assembled a riveting documentary that allows survivors and surviving family members to tell the story. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple also utilizes new footage, audio recordings, and photographs that reveal fresh facets to this tragic tale. These recall the early promise of the group and we see that on some levels the experiment was having success. And Jones' message of tolerance for all certainly had appeal not just to minorities but to gays and lesbians ( the church boasted dozens of queer members ) . One former Peoples Temple member comments at the outset, 'Nobody joins a cult. You join things to be with people you like.'
But within the early successes were the seeds of the church's demise—Jones' strange sexual predilections, his paranoia at anyone trying to leave his flock, his insistence that he become a father figure to his parish members, and his abuses of power behind the scenes are mulled over by survivors. Jones actively courted both women and men to satisfy his sexual urges and one survivor vividly recalls a young man openly suggesting to the congregation that 'Everybody who wants Father to screw them in the butt should take an enema first' that was followed by a show of hands from those who had already been recipients of this special attention. Others recall the tactics used to keep members in line and focused on their leader.
Finally, the film moves to Jonestown and the visit of Congressman Leo Ryan that led up to the tragic final events. Here Nelson utilizes amazing footage taken of the group the night before the tragedy ( musicians played Earth, Wind & Fire's That's the Way of the World as people sang, danced and celebrated ) and throughout the following day— almost up to the moment of the mass suicide/ murder. But Nelson doesn't editorialize or present any of the material in a sensational manner, allowing it to speak for itself. This excellent documentary is getting its Chicago premiere from Nov. 24-30 at the Gene Siskel Center. Highly recommended.
See www.siskelfilmcenter.com
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A few weeks back readers of my column got a double dose of Knight at the Movies. But the one devoted to Volver and For Your Consideration, written in haste to make deadlines before a vacation, got printed too soon and probably confused readers. I mistakenly wrote that both movies were opening in Chicago 'that week' or Friday, Nov. 10 when in fact For Your Consideration opened last Friday, the 15th and Volver this Friday, the 22nd. Apologies for the confusion. Both are part of the archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com
