Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Crime | Drama

-- Unrated Director's Cut --

"Brilliant. A Work Of Art." -Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Darren Aronofsky, director of the critical smash Pi, follows up his acclaimed debut with a gritty, stylish, emotionally charged story of love, loss, drugs and dreams amid the faded glory of Coney Island. Intricately linking the lives of a struggling, small-time drug dealer (Jared Leto), his pill-popping mother (Ellen Burstyn), his upper-class girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) and his best friend (Marlon Wayans), Requiem For A Dream is a hypnotic tale of four human beings each pursuing their vision of happiness. Even as everything begins to fall apart, they refuse to let go, plummeting with their dreams into a nightmarish, gut-wrenching freefall.

User Comment: j_mrf New York City • Oh my, where shall I begin? Experimental film making just went mainstream with this dramatic story of 4 people who find their lives spiraling down towards the abyss after living with their escalating drug dependencies...there is no happy ending to this one. There's no sugar coating here. Still, although this film is blunt and extremely real in its depiction of what really happens when drug use gets out of hand, I couldn't help but remain fascinated with it's VISUAL BEAUTY, even though I should have become disgusted with some of the explicit and gruesome scenes (especially in the un-edited "directors cut"). Some of the filming techniques were similar to the ones that Aronofsky used in his directoral debut "Pi", including split-screen shots and the use of body cameras along with various shutter speeds. At times, the film looks more like a documentary, or a psychedelic trip, than a feature film, which in turn gives the film an even more powerful message ( internalize this: The cries for help are felt all throughout the film, even in the beginning when the future seemed promising and bright). The one scene that really blew me away was when Marion Silver (played by Jennifer Connelley) had just finished selling herself for a bag of heroin...as she walks out the door, into the elevator, down to the ground level, you can't help but feel the actual disgust, the feeling of being dirty, the feeling of..."ZERO". Again, these feelings are brought on by Aronofsky's stunning camera work and visual effects.

The acting in this film especially by Ellyn Burstyn and Marlon Wayans are simply breakthroughs. Enough said. If this review does not make you want to experience the Film, I will just have to spell it out: PLEASE EXPERIENCE (and I use "experience" rather than "view" since it genuinely is an experience) THIS FILM, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!! 11 out of 10.

Summary: Killer Performances by Ellen Burstyn...Darren Aronofsky, Stanley Kubrik has called for you to pull up a chair!

--- JOYA - No SDH ---

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