A work of sheer genius

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2001)

This movie is an amazing, compelling experience.
Darren Aronofsky has a unique visual talent that enables you to live what the characters are living on the screen, so that "Requiem for a Dream" becomes a roller-coaster ride of colors, feelings, images and sensations. This said, let me add that it is not for everybody. Drug addiction has never been depicted in such a cruel, raw and yet sincere way: as we see Sara, Harry, Marion and Tyrone slowly embrace self-destruction we cannot help but identify with them, and this is what really hurts inside. They're ordinary people like you and me who try to make their dreams come true and ultimately be happy; they're naive and helpless, they take the wrong paths and end up destroying themselves and everything that surrounds them. That's what the movie's about: our dreams, hopes, desires, and how badly we strive after them, often losing our balance and ignoring what really matters.
The performances are magnificent, and Ellen Burstyn is so brave and true that by the end of the movie it's impossible to look Sara in the eyes without being hit right in the face by her pain and agony.
10/10. There should be more movies like this one.