Darren Aronofsky's movie guide

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Before the premiere of the mysterious horror film "Mom!" Lifehacker recalls films by Darren Aronofsky, one of the most sought-after directors of our time.

Features of the director's creative style

Darren Aronofsky, like Christopher Nolan or Paul Anderson, manages to maintain independence of creative expression while at the same time achieving high box office receipts. He's also just obsessed with human insanity.

His films cannot be confused with anything. The heroes of Aronofsky's paintings are moving towards complete self-destruction, driven to the extreme by their own obsessions and manias. In filming, the director often resorts to using a manual camera and even attaching it to the actor's body. Another distinctive feature of his work is dynamic shooting from behind the hero. Aronofsky's movie soundtracks are string melodies to a hard electronic beat. And the ending of a film or a logical act is often accompanied by fading of the frame to absolute whiteness.

Aronofsky tries to shoot as much material as possible in order to painstakingly edit the project for several months, bringing the project to perfection. He is not afraid to experiment, he is not confused by a low budget. The director believes that the main thing is to encourage the audience to think and evoke a response.

Carier start

Darren Aronofsky was born in Brooklyn and from an early age was fascinated by theater and cinema. His parents often took him to Broadway performances. There, the boy fell in love with art. After graduating from the prestigious Edward Marrow School, he spent several years traveling, visiting Kenya and several countries in Europe and the Middle East. Returning home, Darren went to Harvard, where he completed courses in cinematography and social anthropology with honors.

The first works of Aronofsky in the cinema were short films. Among them was the "Protozoa" tape, where Lucy Liu, unknown at the time, appeared. And two years later, he began work on his first feature film, Pi.

Aronofsky's films

Pi

• Horror, fantasy, thriller.
• USA, 1997.
• Duration: 84 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 5.

The film tells about mathematics, tormented by an obsession to explain the world using number theory. The project was filmed on a ridiculous $ 60,000 budget. The director borrowed most of the amount from his relatives and friends. At the box office, the film earned more than 3 million, and Aronofsky gladly paid everyone back with good interest.

The heroes of the picture are looking for a clue in Kabbalah and ancient biblical texts, developing a theory about a mathematical code hidden in them. The main character is overworked and suffers from unbearable headaches, but continues his scientific work with manic persistence.

Pi is a story about religion, science, the search for deep meaning and obsession. We also recommend readers who are interested in the topic to get acquainted with the literary heritage of Umberto Eco and Jorge Luis Borges.

Pi's success has led many American producers to believe that Aronofsky can be trusted with larger projects.

Requiem for a Dream

• Drama.
• USA, 2000.
• Duration: 102 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 4.

In this film, Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans and Jennifer Connelly play three drug addicts, each trying to achieve their own cherished dreams. Initially, to enhance the message about the destructive effects of drugs and the emotional reaction of the audience, Aronofsky planned to shoot 15-year-olds in the lead roles. But the producers did not allow him to go to such an extreme, noting that then the picture would not be allowed to be shown in cinemas.

The film was edited in a hip-hop editing manner, which is rare for cinematography. The picture consists of many incredibly short fragments that allow you to feel the complete loss of the heroes of control over themselves. Usually an average one and a half hour tape contains 600-700 movie scenes. Requiem for a Dream is split into more than 2,000.

Despite censorship issues and an R-rating, the film was another success for Aronofsky. This is one of the most frightening pictures of drug addiction, which is difficult to watch even today. And many will remember the "Requiem for a Dream" for the epic soundtrack that sounded in the trailer for the fantasy "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".

The fountain

• Science fiction, drama.
• USA, Canada, 2006.
• Duration: 96 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 3.

In the wake of the unexpected success of Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky decided to try his hand at high-budget blockbusters. Such was the fantastic drama "The Fountain", where Rachel Weisz starred in one of the roles. To immerse herself in the image and atmosphere of the picture, she read books and diaries of terminally ill people, and also visited hopeless patients in hospitals.

The main role in the film was played by Hugh Jackman. His hero, a scientist, time traveler and accidental conquistador, was obsessed with the idea of finding a cure for cancer for his sick wife. Its goal is the mythical Tree of Life, the blessed sap of which is able to bestow eternal life. The main themes of the film were again Kabbalah, as well as the mythology of the Maya peoples, the philosophy of space travel and research in the field of brain surgery.

In Fontana, Aronofsky almost completely abandoned the use of computer special effects. Instead, he used micro-photography of chemical reactions, explaining that computer graphics would deprive the film of the feeling of infinity of time.

Unfortunately, "Fountain" was remembered only for its excellent musical theme. Neither the Mayan wars, nor space flights, nor numerous surreal scenes saved him from financial failure.

Wrestler

• Drama.
• USA, 2008.
• Duration: 105 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 9.

After the failure with The Fountain, Aronofsky seriously thought about working on the film The Fighter, but refused, realizing that he would be working on it for ten years. A little later, he left the team that was filming the remake of "Robocop". His fourth film was The Wrestler, in which Mickey Rourke actually starred as himself.

The picture is similar to a reality show thanks to the abundance of impromptu scenes. For example, at the beginning of the film, Rourke was taking orders on camera from real customers in the supermarket's culinary department. All the scenes behind the scenes of the battles and in the dressing room were also improvised.

For Rourke and Aronofsky, The Wrestler was the perfect opportunity to make a triumphant return to the big screen. The film received the Venetian Golden Lion, and Mickey Rourke won the Golden Globe and the British Film Academy for the leading male role.

Black Swan

• Thriller, drama.
• USA, 2010.
• Duration: 103 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 0.

Black Swan is a psychological thriller starring Natalie Portman as a young ballerina obsessed with the pursuit of creative excellence. She trains under the watchful eye of French villain Vincent Cassel, hoping to land the lead role in the upcoming production of Swan Lake. The role of her partner was played by Mila Kunis, who was taken into the project without casting after a short Skype conversation. Aronofsky knows exactly what the audience is waiting for, so it will not do without a frank lesbian scene.

Like all of Aronofsky's works, "Black Swan" tells of an insane mania, in this case associated with the exhausting work of ballerinas. The craving for perfection completely destroyed the psyche of the main character and led to serious neurotic diseases, which also affected her physical condition. Therefore, the director has always considered Black Swan to be a psychological horror film, although the film was publicly advertised only as a drama.

Black Swan was a sensational success and earned Aronofsky the long-awaited Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Noah

• Drama, adventure, fantasy.
• USA, 2014.
• Duration: 138 minutes
• IMDb: 5, 8.

The next step for Aronofsky was the most ambitious project of his career: a film about Noah. In it, the director reinterprets one of the strangest and most terrible stories of the New Testament, in which God sent the Great Flood to the world, saving the life only of Noah's family and the animals he collected.

Noah is one of Aronofsky's most powerful films. The main character played by Russell Crowe differs little from the director's previous characters, except that the fate of mankind depends on his mental balance this time, and his actions will serve as a lesson for posterity. Despite several colorful combat battles and excellent graphics, the main thing in the film is claustrophobia and a sense of growing panic.

Noah continued Aronofsky's immersion in the biblical themes previously touched upon in Pi and The Fountain. The painting was met with criticism from the religious community. Christian activists even shot a response film, and a number of Muslim countries even banned "Noah" for distribution because of the contradictions in the teachings of Islam.

Mother

• Horror, thriller, drama.
• USA, 2017.
• Duration: 121 minutes

"Mother!" - a real secret with seven seals. A week before the film's premiere, there was so little information about him that he had to rely on only a few rumors.

The official description reads: "The appearance of uninvited guests in the house will serve as a test of strength for the relationship of a married couple, interrupting its serene existence." It is known that Aronofsky wrote the script in just five days.

Leading critics recently got to know the tape and agree that Aronofsky's inspiration came from Rosemary's Baby. It was filmed with a handheld immersive camera, with frequent close-ups of the main character played by Jennifer Lawrence.

The film is mainly set in the heroes' house. However, the fear of an enclosed space is not a burden. The forced otherworldly occult horror that unfolds in full glory in the third act looks much more terrible.

Not without references to the Old and New Testaments. In one form or another, "mom!" describes all ten Egyptian executions, the relationship between the characters of the brothers Gleason resembles the parable of Cain and Abel, and the heroine Lawrence dreams of getting into the Garden of Eden.

"Mother!" is the most surreal and allegorical film by Aronofsky. The screening at the Venice Film Festival was accompanied by both applause and derisive booing. I wonder who you will join.