I saw The Lady in the Water. Kicking off the festivities were 5 previews. I don't recall them all. I remember one of them (The Fountain). Once again, Hugh Jackman is travelling through time to find love, this time with Rachel Weisz. Is Meg Ryan jealous?
I'm only jealous of Hugh, myself. That Rachel Weisz, she's got a certain distracting, fascinating something...that I can't specifically describe in case my girlfriend reads this. Distracting, fascinating...I wanted to say disquieting, but is it really disquieting? Yes! Oh yes. It is to me, anyway. I can't think about this too much. It disquiets me. Not in a bad way. Certain people can be disquieting in a good way. I'm firm on this point.
Anyway, the preview. The way the preview begins - clearly hinting around the whole Fountain of Youth expedition with Ponce De Leon - I thought it was going to be a big-screen adaptation of his story, that fabled search. I pictured it being called, Ponce!
Then I thought, "why is it that in British slang, 'ponce' means a gay man? Was Ponce De Leon a notable early homosexual, and I didn't know it? Was he as famous for exploring his then-forbidden side as he was for exploring the forbidding New World of the Florida peninsula? I mean, what's the connection? He's certainly the most famous Ponce in history, with the possible exception of Oscar Wilde. Surely if it's a reference, it must be to him! Or maybe not."
As the trailer unfolded, with intertitles letting us know that the action was to take place in 1500 A.D., 2000 A.D., 2500 A.D. et cetera (and possibly ad infinitum), the film began to look like an increasingly bad bet. Then, halfway through the preview, everything turned upside down.
"A Darren Aronofsky Film."
That took it from Suck to Whoa in a skipped heartbeat. I am potentially a huge Darren Aronofsky fan. I haven't seen one of his films yet, but I've been dying to. His reputation precedes him and it is solid, rock-solid. Solid like a Buddhist would dispute could truly be possible. I knew right then that I was in for a mind trip that would unite the metaphysical with the Grand Romantic in a way that could make even my life seem potentially fraught with cosmic implications. I am so on board with this one. I give it "two eyes"!
That may or may not develop into a ratings system.
I couldn't help but wonder if this film started out as an adaptation of The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach. I think Darren Aronofsky ought to direct that one next. As a comedy, of course.
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