Darren Aronofsky: the director’s movies that are better than “The Whale” according to Rotten Tomatoes

Darren Aronofsky returned with a new directorial job after a five-year absence. “The Whale” is the new film by the American filmmaker, for which Brendan Fraser has been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscar awards and many other ceremonies.

The last film that Aronofsky made was in 2017 with the premiere of “Mother!”, which received very divided reviews from the audience, for which it was speculated that he decided to temporarily withdraw from behind-the-camera work.

His most recent work, which revolves around a morbidly obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter whom he abandoned as a child, has garnered much praise for his portrayal of the lead. However, for critics, the rest of the film did not measure up.

Therefore, here we have compiled some of the best Darren Aronofsky films, which will be ordered according to the Tomatometer scores and the Approval of the audience of Rotten Tomatoes.

DARREN ARONOFSKY’S BEST FILMS

10. “Noah” (2014)

• Tomatometer: 75%
• Audience Approval: 41%

“Noah” (“Noah”) was co-written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, which was based on the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark from the Old Testament. Russell Crowe plays the protagonist, who has dreams of a great flood and is given the Seed of Eden, from which a great forest grows. The wood will be used to build the ark where his family and his animal species will go, the only ones that will be saved.

9. “Requiem for a Dream” (2000)

• Tomatometer: 78%
• Audience Approval: 93%

“Requiem for a Dream” was co-written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is based on the novel of the same name by Hubert Selby Jr., which tells parallel stories that are linked by the relationship between the lonely and widowed Sara Goldfarb and her sweet but aimless son, Harry.

8. “Black Swan” (2010)

• Tomatometer: 85%
• Audience Approval: 84%

“Black Swan” (“The Black Swan”) is a psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky and inspired by “Perfect Blue” by Satoshi Kon. The plot revolves around Nina, a submissive ballet dancer who dreams of starring in the play “Black Swan” in his company, but the challenge of playing both the role of good and bad, as well as her search for perfection , will make her disassociate from her identity and from reality.

7. “Pi” (1998)

• Tomatometer: 88%
• Audience Approval: 85%

“Pi” (“Pi, Order Out of Chaos”) was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. It tells the story of Maximillian Cohen, a very paranoid mathematician who believes that all of nature can be represented by numbers. During his study, a bug appears on his computer, which he thinks comes from a system failure, but there was something much bigger behind it.

6. “The Fighter” (2010)

• Tomatometer: 91%
• Audience Approval: 89%

On “The Fighter” (“The Fighter”), Darren Aronofsky was the executive producer, while the director was David O. Russel. It was the winner of two Oscars and revolves around Dicky Eklund, a conflicted but talented boxer who tries to redeem himself by training his younger brother. At his time, he had been the pride of his hometown for once toppling the world champion, but then hard times came due to drugs and crime.

5. “Catch the Fair One” (2021)

• Tomatometer: 92%
• Audience Approval: 64%

“Catch the Fair One” (“Until the end”) is a thriller where Darren Aronofsky was the executive producer. The plot follows a former boxer, who voluntarily joins a sex trafficking ring to find her missing little sister. It was directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka.

4. “Some Kind of Heaven” (2020)

• Tomatometer: 93%
• Audience Approval: 75%

“Some Kind of Heaven” is actually a documentary produced by Darren Aronofsky and revolves around the area in Florida known as The Villages, one of the largest retirement communities in the world. Throughout the narrative, the elderly residing there are shown trying to find happiness and meaning in life in this last stage.

3. “The Territory” (2022)

• Tomatometer: 76%
• Audience Approval: 76%

“The Territory” is an international documentary directed by Alex Pritz and Darren Aronofsky was one of the producers. The feature film follows a young indigenous leader of the Uru-eu-wau-wau people who fights against farmers, settlers and settlers encroaching on a protected area of ​​the Amazon rainforest.

2. “The Wrestler” (2008)

• Tomatometer: 98%
• Audience Approval: 88%

“The Wrestler” (“The Wrestler”) is a film directed by Darren Aronofsky and revolves around Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an aging wrestler whose moment of glory is long past. After a particularly brutal beating, Randy hangs up his stockings, seeks a serious relationship with a veteran stripper, and tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, though the ring will always draw him.

1. “Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist” (2021)

• Tomatometer: 100%
• Audience Approval: not available

“Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist” was written and directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent, but Darren Aronofsky is one of the documentary’s cast members. Basically it celebrates the legacy of the Japanese animation director, where various filmmakers, animators, writers and other professionals who worked with Satoshi Kon during his career are interviewed. In addition to Aronofsky, there is also Mamoru Oshii (“Ghost in the Shell”), Rodney Rothman (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), Marc Caro (“The City of Lost Children”), among others.