Number 56 on IMDb's Top 250
Meriam-Webster defines requiem as a solemn chant (as a dirge) for the repose of the dead, and that is a very apt title considering all the dreams in this movie that die horrible deaths. Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) has a dream to make enough money to help his girlfriend get her own fashion store, he also has an addiction to drugs. Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), Harry's girlfriend, has a dream to be a fashion designer, she also has an addiction to drugs. Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans), Harry's friend, has a dream to make money, healso has an addiction to drugs. Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), Harry's mother, has a dream to be on television, she also has an addiction to diet medications, which are really uppers and downers. Hilarity ensues as these four dreams grow and then die a slow terrible death, consumed by the addictions that plague these four people and lead to their downfall.
Trivia: Most movies contain 600 to 700 cuts. Requiem for a Dream contains over 2,000. During Ellen Burstyn's impassioned monologue about how it feels to be old, cinematographer Matthew Libatique accidentally let the camera drift off-target. When director Darren Aronofsky called "cut" and confronted him about it, he realized the reason Libatique had let the camera drift was because he had been crying during the take and fogged up the camera's eyepiece. This was the take used in the final print.
Oh...My...God...This movie was messed up but intoxicating to watch. It starts out slow with everybody having dreams. As the movie progresses through the year, the dreams degenerate as the addictions take over. The last twenty minutes just grabbed me and didn't let me go. I literally could not look away from the screen as the rapid fire shifts between the four characters followed the last desperate steps to distruction. Wow. (Note: For those of you that have kids and want to see this, and I recommend you do, this movie is rated NC-17 for graphic depictions of drug use and some graphic sexual situations)
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1 comment:
Your comments on the movie makes me want to see it, but I'm pretty sure it won't be in our video store here. We usually only get the big blockbusters. Sad, but true.
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