Review of Requiem for a Dream (2000) by Parker S — 29 Jul 2012

Requiem for a Dream goes to show that filmmakers that focus on unfocusing their aim towards appealing to most and instead try to create the most realistic portrayal of a certain topic can have immense success if done right.

This movie is done right. Or wrong however you see it. If you look at someone like David Lynch, a director that doesn't care about happy endings or logical plot processions, but instead creates an experience.

An experience that sticks in your mind. You don't know why its so memorable or insistent upon showing up in your everyday lives, but it just does. Mulholland Drive is a perfect example of this. When I first saw it, I had no idea what was going on or who was who, but it enthralled me.

Something about the way it was crafted stayed with me for weeks, months even and that is something truly special. Aronofsky is very similar in this way; Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream are both dizzying in their execution, but overwhelmingly memorable and special in my eyes.

They both tell stories that simpler and easier films wouldn't do it justice. Black Swan was focused on the theme of envy, and this on drugs. It may seem cluttered throughout, and you'd be right.

It creates this suffocating and claustrophobic atmosphere and thats what all the flashing eyes, needles, muscles, pill bottles and mouths are supposed to do. If you are comfortable during this movie, you are troubling detached.

The throbbing intense music, the electrifying performances, the way it is all shot and edited together. It all comes together to make a fantastic movie. Once you think that it can't get any more bleak, any more disgusting, any more emotionally scarring, any more utterly repulsive and dark; it does.

You will cringe, close your eyes and perhaps cry. Simply put, this movie isn't for the faint of heart, but it is a far more informative and most importantly more compelling message against drug use than any PSA or documentary I've ever seen.

You will want to take a bath afterwards, but thats really what this Darren Aronofsky is trying to accomplish.