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The Fountain

Date: Jun 13 2007

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In the age of postmodernism, films are often quite strange. It’s now often the case that the plot of a movie is not the focus, but simply the mood or tone it creates. Mason recently saw such a film, and he tells Kevin about why he liked it and others didn’t.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Kevin

Mason: You know I finally went and saw this movie I’d been wanting to see called The Fountain.

Kevin: Oh, I’ve heard about it. I haven’t seen it though.

Mason: Yeah, I mean it was uh…I let it go for a while, but I really, really enjoyed it but a lot of people didn’t, which didn’t really surprise me. I mean, did you ever see a preview?

Kevin: No, I’ve just heard about it via friends and I know almost nothing about it.

Mason: I think it’s the kind of movie that people talk about. I looked on Rotten Tomatoes, right…

Kevin: Uh-huh, uh-huh, good site.

Mason: ...and it was split pretty much down the middle. People either loved it or hated it because it’s one of those films that I don’t know if there even is anything to get, you just kind of feel it. It’s a very abstract, kind of emotional film.

Kevin: Just like his other films, right?

Mason: Yeah, I mean Requiem for a Dream and the other one, the math one…

Kevin: Uh, Pi.

Mason. Yeah.

Kevin: So did you feel it?

Mason: I felt it! I was moved and I’m generally a pretty stoic movie-goer. But this one…well first of all it’s beautiful and the soundtrack’s very interesting and the story’s just very bizarre, this kind of quest for eternal life, fighting death, accepting death, the role love plays and all that.

Kevin: It sounds interesting I might have to go check it out.

Mason: I think so. Get stoned and check it out.

Kevin: Sounds good.

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Discussion

Mason asks Kevin if he’s seen The Fountain, but he’s only heard about it. When Mason says he “let it go for a while” he means that he saw the movie after it had been released for some time.

Mason looked on rottentomatoes.com, a website where people post reviews of movies, and saw that some people really liked The Fountain, while other people disliked it. He says that, unlike most movies, The Fountain isn’t something you either get or don’t get. It’s something you feel or don’t feel. Kevin notes that The Fountain sounds like filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s other movies.

Although Mason doesn’t usually experience strong feelings at movies, he tells Kevin that he was moved by The Fountain, because of how beautiful it looks and how the soundtrack sounds, as well as the movie’s story.

When Kevin says he might have to go see the movie, Mason jokes and tells him to use drugs first.

Are you usually moved by films or are you more stoic? Is there a movie you really “felt” lately?

Comments

bernard90

Russian Federation

It’s really hard for me to be moved by films. When my friends cry about love stories, I can laugh.=) But I can be moved, it’s possible! If it will be film about pets like “Hatiko” for example.