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Amazon.com: Employing shock techniques and sound design in a relentless sensory assault, Requiem for a Dream is about nothing less than the systematic destruction of hope. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., and adapted by Selby and director Darren Aronofsky, this is undoubtedly one of the most effective films ever made about the experience of drug addiction (both euphoric and nightmarish), and few would deny that Aronofsky, in following his breakthrough film Pi, has pushed the medium to a disturbing extreme, thrusting conventional narrative into a panic zone of traumatized psyches and bodies pushed to the furthest boundaries of chemical tolerance. It's too easy to call this a cautionary tale; it's a guided tour through hell, with Aronofsky as our bold and ruthless host. The film focuses on a quartet of doomed souls, but it's Ellen Burstyn--in a raw and bravely triumphant performance--who most desperately embodies the downward spiral of drug abuse. As lonely widow Sara Goldfarb, she invests all of her dreams in an absurd self-help TV game show, jolting her bloodstream with diet pills and coffee while her son Harry (Jared Leto) shoots heroin with his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) and slumming girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly). They're careening toward madness at varying speeds, and Aronofsky tracks this gloomy process by endlessly repeating the imagery of their deadly routines. Tormented by her dietary regime, Sara even imagines a carnivorous refrigerator in one of the film's most memorable scenes. And yet... does any of this have a point? Is Aronofsky telling us anything that any sane person doesn't already know? Requiem for a Dream is a noteworthy film, but watching it twice would qualify as masochistic behavior. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
- Over the years: i watched this movie back when it first came out and didn't really get it. i recently re watched it and found it to be extremely thought provoking and true to life. this is a true glimpse into the life of a world most don't know. one thing that really grabbed me the second time is how the cycle of addiction really is a family problem. not for the faint of heart but a great movie if you want to see something that will make you think.
- Unsympathetic characters + no story = bad movie: We board a fast moving train to oblivion with no understanding given as to why these people became such desperate junkies in the first place. Should we assume that it is simply because they're all so obviously stupid? The beautiful Jennifer Connelly, for example, apparently has a talent and wants to design clothes and maybe open her own store, yet she can't otherwise form a coherent thought, like, "Gee, maybe I should finish high school first!" Or is it all supposed to be because of their inability to move beyond their bleak surroundings? There are lots of people living in bleak surroundings who don't do what these people did. So what is it? Hmmm?
And let's not forget that we're talking about people who not only shoot smack, but whose loftiest aspiration is to become smack dealers themselves so that they can get lots of money fast. In fact, when they're in their money-making "business" mode, they seemed to be able to bring their respective addictions under control just fine, thanks. Hey, you've gotta have a clear head to make it in the business world. But getting a real job (or even looking for one) never enters into the equation for these self-absorbed nitwits.
As far as mom living her zombie-like TV-oriented life while popping Rx diet pills so she can be on TV herself, where's the background info that would allow us to buy into this? Is your grandma a pill addict with an IQ of 50? Whose grandma is, exactly? No, the vast majority of TV-watching grandmas aren't popping pills, they're popping cookies into the oven.
So, with no reasons given as to how this particular group of Jerry Springer guests decided to roll up their sleeves and stick a dirty needle in (or eat diet pills like M&Ms), I just plain didn't care. Lots of style here with no real story or reason to give a hoot. - Maybe this is not my type of movie: I feel that this is like a movie that was shot in the 80's. I don't know why but it seems old and past due for me. I have tried watching it on five occasions and have not gotten past the 25 minutes. Too bad. I expected more based on the reviews on here.
Being from Brooklyn I did Reminisce with the scenes of 80's early 90's like Coney Island and now that Coney Island (the first Amusement Park in the US) is set to be revamped I will keep it as a reminder of what it once was. However, if I can locate a Coney Island documentary shot in the 21st century I will ditch this film. - Not for the average joe: I think in order to understand this movie, you have to have some semblance of intelligence. It's not for your "average joe", blue collar, working class kind of person. But if you have what it takes to watch and get this movie, it is one awesome movie. I love movies that make you feel, make you think, and this is definitely one of those movies. Like someone else mentioned, it's not about addiction per sea. It's about hope and dreams and how easily they are lost. It's about life and how it can sneak up on you and destroy all that you thought you were. It's about how easy we can get lost and how those around us don't even see it happening until it's too late. If you want a mindless, dumb movie, don't watch this. However, if you want a movie that will make you think, make you feel; a movie that will stay with you even after you are done watching it - then this is the movie for you.
- Song for the almost dead: Requiem: Generally speaking, a musical composition honoring the dead; more specially (1) the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead, or (2) other commemorative pieces of analogous intent.
I keep reading reviews where people say that teenagers should HAVE to see this film because it portrays the true hell that drugs will lead you in to. However, I disagree. While hellish looking for most, it also at times seems pretty much like a fantasy. Even when Marion is brought to her knees (literally) to do the most disgusting things possible in order to get her drugs, she still has a smile on her face. Teenagers with their illusions of immortality may see themselves as "smarter" than the characters portrayed in this film and able to avoid the pitfalls better than Harry, Marion and Tyrone did. I'd use caution before I showed this movie to teenagers as a way of "scaring them straight".
Ellen Burstyn, gives one of the best performances I have probably ever seen, as Sara Goldfarb. She is a true innocent victim, of her son, and her own hope. Watching her lose her mind when all she wanted to was lose 50 pounds was really heartbreaking. It would be easy to dismiss her as just a nutty, needy old lady and with Burstyn's performance, you can't.
My problem with the film (and this might be a spoiler) is when Harry and Tyrone end up in prison. The circumstances leading up to that going to a hospital just don't make any sense. But that may just be the pedantic lawyer in me, because these two were headed for prison one way or another.
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