Requiem for a Dream (Review)

Many directors talk about a film that was a significant point in their not only their film watching and development as a voice but their lives too. This is Ken Loach with 'Bicycle Thieves', and David Fincher and 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. While I was starting to become a more avid movie viewer by the time I first saw this film, there was a lot I had never seen before. Split screen, hip hop montage, psychological drama/horror, jump cuts, fish eyed lenses, a progressively, intensified score. I had never seen a film like this before.

Director Darren Aronofsky follows two stories from the book of the same name by Hubert Selby Jr.. One of Harry (Jared Leto), Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), and the other of Sarah (Harry's mother played by Ellen Burstyn). The Harry-Marion-Tyrone story is a typical one of three heroin addicts who try to make money by selling the drug. This is contrasted (and what makes the movie stand out among all its fancy style) with Sarah's story. An old widow who lives alone in an apartment who gets a call out of the blue saying she will be on TV. She wants to wear an old red dress she has on TV but she's gained weight so she tries a diet. Only eating grapefruit doesn't work so a doctor gives her some pills. These pills lead her down a path that the others go down.

Aronofsky contrasts these two paths to ask the audience "what is a drug". The story of Harry, Marion and Tyrone could come off as one dimensional but even without Sarah's story it still has a strong effect on the audience. They might look like they all come out of a magazine ad but you won't care for them but caring for them doesn't involve empathy. In fact, this is a film that steers away from empathy. Glimpses of potential in life are evident and I think that unless we have had to go through such experiences. Marion wants to be a clothes designer and the others want to help. Their downfall is ignited by a war between drug suppliers, running out of drugs and money, and an arm. Despite distancing its self from an empathetic view these dreams and hopes represent the maturity in Aronofsky's style.

Dreams and hopes also play an important, if not the crucial part of Sarah's story. You feel empathetic for her at first. She's a caring mother. Her son takes her TV to sell for drugs. She's a lady with nowhere to go in life, except for the sidewalk with all the other women in her building. She has her dreams, however. She wants to see her son be successful, have a wife and for her to have a grandchild. Being on TV will her give her a new prospect in life. When she tells the other women on her block she becomes the center of attention. The American Dream of success could come with this TV appearance but as she waits for a letter telling her when she will be on TV the weight loss drugs take their toll. TV doesn't bring her comfort like it use to and the fridge (a source of food and weight gain) is now her enemy.

Ellen Burstyn's performance is the highlight of the film. You may come for the vigorous style of the film but you'll sure as hell stay for Burstyn. She expresses her character's dreams in a way that represents heartbreak. You know she shouldn't go down the road she is about to go down but you have no option but only to watch. The performances of Connelly and Wayans are flawless but their characters aren't as strong and well defined as Burstyn's. Leto's, however, has some moments that come off as amateurish. The one that stands out is when he cries after seeing his mother and finding out that she has been taking the weight loss drugs. Fortunately, Burstyn nails that scene and in particular a monologue that really sets up the heart break of the rest of the film and Leto's moment there doesn't dull the effect of it.

If you haven't seen the film you might have heard the music. It's featured in a Lord of the Rings trailer here. The score has the intensity of Psycho's shower scene constantly bombarding you throughout. Clint Mansell with help from Kronos Quartet are to thank (or blame depending on how you see it) for the score. The texture has Dario Argento's Suspiria score to thank. While completely different it takes the same effect on the audience. One that makes you feel uncomfortable. The score even has an odd rendition of samba music during Sarah's downfall, which could be seen as a parody in ways.

For some just looking at this film will make them sick. I am sure Matthew Libatique is sitting in the shadows grinning. Not at the images but because how an audience reacts. He calls on mainly blue, green and sometimes yellow hues but if I was to describe them, sickening would be the word. While set in New York and Coney Island you feel the dirt and grunge atheistic in the images thanks to the high contrast images deployed throughout. The lights uses are neither soft or hard but in the mid ground between the two. Creative framing in a lot of scenes helps display a characters' place and feeling. Several fish eyed lenses are used and at first, they are used to represent what it's like being high. Slowly they are used for visceral effect as the characters enter their downwards spirals.

The editing speaks for itself and if you haven't see it, watch it.

Requiem for a Dream is a film that not every person will like but it's one that will take the same toll on everyone who watches it. Aronofsky matures in this film, compared to Pi, to bring us one of the most depressing yet effective films anyone has seen. This film has found itself in a special place within today's culture. Not in the forgotten void of films like George Washington nor in the masses of Gladiator but I am sure it'll defy for many more years to come as it'll keep many, many more people off drugs. I don't think there is a film that has potentially saved as many lives as this one.

Overall Score: 10/10

Have you seen this film? What did you think of this film?

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Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Darren Aronofsky and Hubert Selby Jr.

Starring: Elen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans and Jennifer Connelly

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique

Score: Clint Mansell with the Kronos Quartet

Editing: Jay Rabinowitz