What happened to the tour-de-force techno/ocd filmmaking on display in Pi/Requiem for a Dream (and The Fountain).

I mean The Wrestler/Black Swan are really fun, but they don't show his true talent for visionary filmmaking. I remember ten years ago Aronofsky was the most exciting director around.

I don't know that I'd call it selling out. The Wrestler and Black Swan are still two pretty dark movies. I think maybe he's settled down on his style a little but I don't know. I've liked everything he's done so far.

His filmography is pretty stellar if you ask me. He's yet to make a bad film. Though I wasn't a huge fan of Black Swan.

Didn't really care about The Fountain when I first saw it, because I thought he was trying to channel Kubrick, but when I saw it a second time I got all teary eyed and shit. It really hit home on that second viewing. Other than that minor first hurdle his filmography is pretty stellar.

He's 5/5 as far as I'm concerned.

Uh, Black Swan was Requiem for a Dream with obsession and ballet instead of drugs, shot mostly on 16mm. It has Winona Ryder stabbing herself in the face with a nail file. What about that says sold out?

This sounds a lot like hipsters saying "I liked that band before they were popular!"

Same here.

Shut up. All of you.

Hipster.

I like Swan and would put it in the top ten movies of that year, but if you look at his first films you have to wonder why he abandoned that incredible and eccentric style. Can you imagine how crazy Black Swan would be if he was allowed to let loose and go crazy with the imagery/editing. It is there but it's like watered down DA-lite.

We have a right to have our voices heard.*Jules yells incomprehensibly.*

The Wrestler wasn't a big studio film. It was shot for next to nothing and most of the wrestling was shot at real independent wrestling shows. He made that movie because he wanted to and with the actor that he wanted to (studio wanted Nic Cage) and took less money to make it so he could make it his way. That's anything but selling out.

Not only has he made highly personal films all throughout his career, but he's stepped away from being involved in several big name franchises. What a sellout!

The entire end of the movie reminded me of the refrigerator trip out scene in Requiem. It was all him and that was him cutting loose, and unfortunately it's the low point of the movie.

I know of even more cutting-edge directors, but you probably haven't heard of them.

Yes he is.

Me too

The Fountain's the only work of his that I didn't really like, and that might have come from seeing it in a crappy second run theater.

Eww Nic Cage?

I agree, Aronofsky the film director has yet to sell out in any of his 5 films.

But Aronofsky the director of this?



That's a sellout.

Embedding fail!

im not sure the OP knows what sell out means (also Black Swan was shot independently as well

I've never really been a huge fan of Aronofsky so I can't speak for his character as far as selling out but I've always wondered why musicians/filmmakers get the "sellout" rep. Do you call yourself a sellout when you go for that promotion at work? Is everyone who wants to be successful a sellout?

I always think of filmmakers like Clooney or Soderbergh who make commercial films so they can continue making the movies they want.

To be fair I don't see how directing Kohl's commercials with J-Lo is an essential part of the equation when it comes to an acclaimed director getting his biblical epic off the ground. But I'm not in the business.

I keed though. I thought that commercial was one of the most annoying things I'd ever seem when I first saw it and a little part of me died when I learned Aronofsky directed it but I'm not about to turn my back on a director with a filmography like Aronofsky's over a 30-second abomination of a TV spot.