Now Streaming: Darren Aronofsky, From PI to THE WHALE

Darren Aronofsky's new film, Caught Stealing, hits theaters this week. Austin Butler stars in a dark comedy that's also been described as a psychological thriller. Our review will be published later this week, but in anticipation, we looked into our archives (and our memories) to examine the director's career.

Even before our site was founded by our Dear Leader Todd Brown in September 2004, I think it's safe to say that Aronosky's very first feature film caught our collective eye.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Harvard, Arnofsky's senior thesis short Supermarket Sweep led to his brainy debut effort, Pi (1998), named by past contributor Niels Matthijs as one of his personal favorites. In his lovely appreciation, he described it as "a rather typical film coming from a first-time director, somewhat experimental in nature, sporting a kick-ass electronic soundtrack and a subject that spoke to me on multiple levels. A film Aronofsky himself would never be able to surpass and still stands as his best work to date, although opinions on this differ. Still, an absolute must-see if you like your films a little different."

Unfortunately, Pi is not currently streaming. Aronosky's sophomore feature, Requiem for a Dream (2000), however, is available, although only on ad-supported services. Since we haven't written about it before, I'll be covering it in my weekly Now FASTing column this Wednesday.

Features #3 and #4 are also not available, though they are very much worth seeking out. (They are available in physical media editions.) To whet your appetite -- or re-whet it, is that a word? -- allow me to point you to our reviews of the wildly complex and wildly divisive The Fountain (2006) -- first, a report by Todd Brown, then an awesome video review by two children, introduced by Kurt Halfyard, as well as Kurt's excellent review of The Wrestler (2008).

Next came a film that recently made the theatrical rounds to celebrate its 15th anniversary.

Black Swan (2010)
The film is now streaming on Hulu.

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel star in the piercing psychological horror about a ballet dancer who is pushed to the edge and beyond.

In his review from the Toronto International Film Festival, Kurt Halfyard concluded: "Where the film does flirt with transcendence is when Nina finally dances the Black Swan in front of an audience outside of the many on screen rehearsals. That is the shock and awe I came for even if the picture on the whole suffers too often from the same meticulous craft-but-not-art Thomas is trying to beat out of Nina."

We wrote a lot more about the film than that review, so check it out here.

Now it's time to pause and refer you to our own Theodoor Steen's marvelous Sound and Vision appraisal of Aronofsky's entire career, putting into context the filmmaker's only music video, released in 2011.

From there, Aronosky embarked on an epic production.

Noah (2014)
The film is available on the FAST service Pluto TV.

Russell Crowe and return Aronofsky veteran Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream) starred in the woefully misunderstood adventure epic. Our own Eric Ortiz Garcia captured Aronofsky's approach perfectly in his review:

"It also functions as new territory for Aronofsky, mostly through its kick-ass action blockbuster side. Certainly, the main goal is to give a different approach to the biblical story of Noah's Ark and thus the film won't please everyone. That might be an obvious remark, but it really won't do it.

"For example, I don't see my grandmother, the last true Catholic person in my family, pleased to watch a colossal battle, echoing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the middle of Noah's tale. It seems Aronofsky is bringing the Bible to a new generation, but ultimately the film is much too complex and talky for a teenager, not to mention a child. I say all of this because I watched it in Mexico City with an all-age audience, including kids."

mother! (2017)
The film is now streaming on Paramount Plus.

Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem star as a couple who must deal with uninvited guests in the perplexing horror/mystery. The film enjoyed its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where our critic Thomas Humphrey saw it. His review began: "Director Darren Aronofsky has set the 47th Biennale Main Competition alight with an infernal psychological thriller that definitely burns with the fire of his past films Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream."

He continued: "As a piece of cinema, it will prove divisive, and it has already lead to mixture of applause and boos at press screenings at this year's festival. Well, I for one would like to go on the record as saying that Aronofsky has made here a real otherworldly masterpiece here, and it will most certainly be making it onto the list of films from 2017 that I truly love."

(Read Thomas' review in full. It's wonderful.)

The Whale (2022)
The film is now streaming on HBO Max.

Brendan Fraser stars as a morbidly obese man; the film goes far beyond appearances, however, as Eric Ortiz Garcia wrote in his review: "The Whale works as a life review of its main character. There lies its true core, the past - so loving, painful and tragic - is revealed in the course of a week and we discover what led Charlie to his situation." He concluded that the film is "one of his most empathetic works."

Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.