Darren Aronofsky THE SCIENCE LIMITLESS OF LONGEVITY

Award-winning director Darren Aronofsky is heading several new projects, including a film adaption of The Whale, and Limitless, a National Geographic docuseries that pushed Chris Hemsworth to his breaking point.

- Aron Vaughan

Over the past decade, films became bigger in almost every sense of the word — bigger budgets, bigger action scenes, bigger scales, and bigger universes for characters to interact within. From 2000 onward, we have been living in the era of the superhero.

Everyone and their cousin enjoys an explosive, suspend-your-disbelief comic book adaptation, but the overabundance of additions to the genre leaves some viewers with a feeling of emptiness. Where is the substance?

Some of these media megaliths explore more sophisticated themes like Machiavellianism and utilitarianism, as showcased in anti-hero offerings such as Logan, and more recently, Black Adam. Later-phase Marvel movies even loosely incorporate advanced scientific principles like multiverses and quantum mechanics into their writing. Still, the inclusions are often little more than a jumping-off point for mythic gods and wizards to play around in.

More subtle storytelling that explores the universal themes of the human condition — purpose, meaning, life, death, metaphysics, philosophy, theology, love, loss — seems almost superannuated in a “post-meaning” world. Ironically, as blockbusters get bigger, the pool of motifs to draw from gets smaller. We are now left with a shrinking box — the contents of which are limited to revenge, justice and friendship.

Darren Aronofsky is one of the few directors fighting against the grain in Hollywood while still achieving massive commercial success.

Aronofsky’s sophomore directorial offering, Requiem for a Dream, is a philosophical one. Its themes cut to the heart of contemporary youth: media, drugs and sex. But beyond that, Requiem is a reflection on addiction, alienation and self-ownership.