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Rated: unrated, which is being treated as NC-18, in this case, it could be more like NC-21.
****1/2 of only ****
Length: 100 minutes
Writters:
Hubert Selby Jr.(novel & screenplay)
Darren Aronofsky (screenplay)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast:
Ellen Burstyn Sara Goldfarb
Jared Leto: Harry Goldfarb
Jennifer Connelly: Marion Silver
Marlon Wayans: Tyrone C. Love
Christopher McDonald: Tappy Tibbons
Louise Lasser: Ada
Keith David: Little John
Sean Gullette: Arnold the Shrink
Do not see this movie if you are young or offended by other movies. This is traumatic. The storytelling in this film involves enough drug use and sexual content to redefine any rating system. This should be experienced in a theater, and it won't be at the discount places.
This is a serious film to be seen on the big screen. This may be the harshest, most haunting and disturbing film you ever see. Nothing is here that is not in real life every day, and that lack of being melodramatic is part of what makes this so unusual. There is nothing here to make you feel good. The only thing that could prevent this from being a cult classic is that it is so completely heartbreaking to watch, and devoid of anything good happening to any character. The beginning seems relatively benign and not substantially different than other movies. The shift into a state of hyper reality starts meticulously with the opening and gets progressively more intense. The score is forlorn from the beginning in a way that draws you in. The sound effects are exaggerated throughout so as to tell a story themselves in a way that serves to enhance the state of hyper reality. The music was intense and focused the senses. The careful and thorough use of a combinations of camera techniques that include odd angles, fish bowl lens, split screens, close-ups, slow motion, fast motion, instant motion, split screens, and rapid fire imagery that truly tears at your senses. The maniacally repeated graphic images form a chorus in a horrific poem of death. Hours later, I ached like I had been in a traffic accident.
The ever darkening story line leaves no chance for a happy ending, only real misery. The dream is the desire for a better life. Here, the concept of working for it never realty enters the picture. This film creatively examines the human fragility created by the inner needs of people wanting to feel connected to and feel loved by others. Addictions are just poor substitutes for genuine fulfillment. Most people do dream of their own existence being justified. It shows a story of four people wanting security and happiness, but in their ill conceived efforts, they ruin and lose everything. The addiction to the dream is the start of the frenetic downward spiral. The intertwined cross telling of the addictions to image, fame, heroin, food, TV & diet pills may be dizzying, but it is very complementary. The dillusional daydreams switch to nightmares and then back to reality so fast and seamlessly that it forms a visual sentence. Where the character is versus what they want versus what they will get is beautifully constructed so as to involve the audience more deeply in the story being told.
Sara Goldfarb replaces her missing family life with television. She is lonely but getting by okay. Trouble begins when she finds out she is in a pool of contestants to be on her favorite game show, JUICE. She has immediately realized a gain in the buildings social status which only reinforces her desire to look her best for her appearance on the blessed television. Her tragedy has begun. Her son Harry has been existing as a heroin addict & minor dealer for a while with his friend Tyrone C. Love, (interesting name) and they have been looking to make it big. Harry's girlfriend, Marion Silver, (interesting name also) is from a more affluent Brighten Beach Brooklyn family, but that is part of her problem. All these characters have their moments of nurturing which makes you empathize with them even more.
Part of the reason this film is so depressing is because it is so very well directed and acted. As unusual and hard and violent as Requiem For A Dream is, the acting is very level and believable. Ellen Burstyn plays Sara Goldfarb and had better get a nomination for this challenging role from which most would shy away. Her acting was good throughout her character's transformation, and drew the audience in deeper. Jared Leto plays Harry Goldfarb, and Jennifer Connelly plays Marion his girlfriend. At first these two seem a little too pretty for the story. That changes quickly, and you get drawn into their self inflicted plight. Jennifer Connelly has been called an artistically classic hollywood beauty. That classic beauty along with her acting ability combine to give her character a more powerful role than the script would have you believe. Jared Leto diversely portrays Harry in his downward spiral with all the sensitivities and courseness required. As intense as his role may be, he does not over do it. Marlon Wayans as Tyrone C. Love has shown some real acting talent that should get his serious film carreer going places.
Near the end, there was a schizophrenic techno Bolero that would have Ravel shaking in his grave. The explosively interwoven final crash was so brutal and intense that the crude degrading sex elements were a welcome reprieve. When the film ended and the credits came up, the music stopped and there was only the sound of surf in the background. The audience was silent, no one was moving, no one was talking. Everyone was stunned. The credits ended, we all just looked at each other and started to get up and leave. As we somberly shuffled out, we passed by the people waiting to get in for the next show. They asked us if the movie was good. There was a grunt and a nod, but not a word was spoken.
There is the dream, and this is a requiem. It is a sensory assault, perhaps without precedent. The sum of the individual gory details is blown away by the whole.
If you see this film, plan on following it up with something light and upbeat, like Cuyote Ugly, that is flashy and loud, but cheerful.
The women in the audience were jumping out of their seats from the expressions of Sara's food demons by the refrigerator. That is probably the scariest nearly inanimate kitchen appliances ever in a movie. Feed Me Sara! That reaction was stronger than the reaction to the dramatic discoloration of Harry's rotting arm, or the needle injections. In the character of Tyrone C. Love, in particular, you can see the love for friends and compassion for people in general, but he still ends up in a hellish existence. The shock that Harry has being dismembered and completely alone may be his one salvation. Some people are just slow to learn.
Spoilers Complete
Spoilers Complete
Spoilers Complete
1. Summer Overture
2. Party
3. Coney Island Dreaming
4. Party
5. Chocolate Charms
6. Ghosts Of Things To Come
7. Dreams
8. Tense
9. Dr. Pill
10. High On Life
11. Ghosts
12. Crimin' & Dealin'
13. Hope Overture
14. Tense
15. Bialy & Lox Conga
16. Cleaning Apartment
17. Ghosts-Falling
18. Dreams
19. Arnold
20. Marion Barfs
21. Supermarket Sweep
22. Dreams
23. Sara Goldfarb Has Left The Building
24. Bugs Got A Devilish Grin Conga
25. Winter Overture
26. Southern Hospitality
27. Fear
28. Full Tense
29. Beginning Of The End, The
30. Ghosts Of A Future Lost
31. Meltdown
32. Lux Aeterna
33. Coney Island Low
Holy Shit!
