...it doesn't suprise me a bit that this is a great movie. I think your initial impression of Darren Aronofsky was simply wrong. Or at the very least, ill formed.

Yep. There is so much going on in Pi and Requiem, and certain pieces that draw attention that it is easy to miss everything else going on...

The only people who didn't think Mickey Rourke could pull this off haven't seen his performance Sin City, or didn't know that was him.

I did think that while very interesting and ambitious, The Fountain was his least successful endeavor. For some reason it didn't work for me. I may need to give it another shot.