Review 309: Requiem for a Dream
Based on the novel, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr, Four people, Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her son Harry (Jared Leto), his friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) and his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) have big dreams (Sara wants to be on TV, Harry and Marion plan to open a fashion store and Tyrone wants to escape the street) and become addicted to drugs and little by little their lives crumble to nothing.
The plot is a masterpiece, it's true about the reality of tacking drugs, they're addictive, they give you this warm feel good feeling and quite your demons, but when you stop taking them you realise you've done some really terrible things. It shows that any type of addiction is completely pointless and I'm not just saying, I have been told not to take drugs, been given plenty of good reasons not to and I've witnessed what can happen if you take them from seeing educational videos at school.
But it's not primarily about drugs, it's about addiction, it shows addiction can come in all different forms weather it be alcohol, cigarettes or even anorexia.
It also shows that obsession can fuel addiction: Sara wants to loose weight so she can go on TV which becomes her obsession and in doing so she becomes obsessed with the diet pills she takes to achieve that aim. But nothing is ever that simple and eventually her obsession spirals out of control. She thinks the pills aren't working so she takes a bigger dose and thats the slippery slope.
Requiem for a Dream also depicts the America Dream as amorphous and unattainable. The four characters as well as being addictive to drugs set themselves impossible goals and keep moving the goal posts which makes it a really realistic human story that we are often never happy with what we've got or we've achieved.
Not to spoil anything but when our characters finally hit the slippery slope, the film shows that both in fiction and reality, when something disastrous happens, you loose all that potential. You grieve over everything you could have been. Everything you hopped for your friends and family. Everything you might have achieved with your life, everyone you could have loved. Every joy you could have had. Every job you could have. It's gone completely.
Writer/director Darren Aronofsky's direction is precise (his use close ups and odd camera angels and sound effects really make us feel how the characters feel when they take the drugs), the cinematography is incredible, the score by Clint Mansell is mind blowing, the costumes are brilliant, the setting of the summer Brighton Beach is beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking, the production design is great, the make up is rich and the ending was brilliant.
The acting is spectacular, Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans and Jennifer Connelly deliver first rate performances here, it's just fascinating to see their characters have these impossible dreams, become obsessed with drugs, become addicted to them and them fall into loss.
Possibly the best performance comes from Ellen Burstyn as Sara mainly because she has the best character development and storyline. She is an old woman who wants to loose weight to mealy be on TV and takes these diet pills to do so and the way she looses control over them cause her the fastest and most heartbreaking downfall.
Don't take drugs!, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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