Darren Aronofsky Aronofsky is on the short list of filmmakers who are hard to categorize, as his films tend to be quite distinct from each other. In 1998, he made waves with his feature-length debut Pi, a taut 84-minute film that tells the story of a partially insane mathematician who believes the world and its activity can be explained through patterns of numbers. While Pi was certainly an eye-opening film to many filmgoers, Aronofsky truly broke out with Requiem For a Dream in 2000. The film benefited from spectacular performances (especially Ellen Burstyn as an elderly woman obsessed with infomercials), great editing, and of course superb direction from Aronofsky. His innovative screenplay combined with his brilliant use of cutting (especially in the film’s final act), helped elevate the film into one of the most memorable films of the 2000s. His next film, The Fountain (2006), is seemingly a meditation on the cycle of life, death and the passing of time as it follows a doctor desperately trying to save his wife from a brain tumor. The film was not received as well as his previous efforts, though much of Aronofsky’s ambitions were praised. The film makes for an interesting viewing because of the film’s nontraditional narrative and impressive use of different filmmaking techniques including frequent match cutting. In recent years, the film has seen a resurgence in popular appeal, so perhaps the film will be regarded more highly in the future. In 2008, The Wrestler marked a distinct departure from his previous work. Inherently a character study of a professional wrestler named Randy, ‘The Ram’ Robinson (Mickey Rourke in perhaps his best role), Aronofsky brilliantly eschews the stylistic visuals associated with his previous successes and instead lets Rourke carry the film with his heartbreaking performance. The film is an excellent character study and is also a rare glimpse into the world of professional wrestling.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 01:00:41 +0000
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