"filmmaking at its height"

Rating: 10/10 (25 August 2002)

Harry Knowles from "Ain't it cool news" describes this movie perfectly...
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is filmmaking at its height.
I can say I loved it. I can say I liked it. And I can say it was powerfully dramatic and assuredly brilliant. I am also of the firm belief that if I see a better film this year I will be ecstatic beyond all belief, because as of right now.... I'm shakingly jubilant at having woke up at the ass-crack of dawn to see a movie in a theater with STEREO and postage stamp screens.
This film should be REQUIRED VIEWING by every friggin High School kid in the country. It should be unleashed upon them. Will it disturb them? Will it shake their fragile little minds? Will it possibly make a lifestyle change for them? Oh God YES. YES YES YES.
This movie is brutal... brutal in the most aggressively harsh reality moments we have in society.
Darren Aronofsky has made a film that makes use of everything that Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Danny Boyle, Stephen Soderbergh, David Fincher and Tom Tykwer have used to redefine 'cool' cinema... Every pulse skip.... split screen.... frame shake.... tracking perspectives....fisheye worldviews... trippy music... grand dialogue... And he's gone and made a hardcore John Schlesinger MIDNIGHT COWBOY meets Martin Scorsese TAXI DRIVER world. This is cool meeting HARSH REALITY.
The movie lulls you into thinking... "Oh yeah baby... light me up one of them... prep the needle hon... hand me the blue one... yeeeaaaaaahhhhh" And well, I don't want to get specific, but... yeah, it gets rough.
Are you happy with where the characters are at the end... NO.... should it be different... NO.
This film has an absolute moral center. And I know for a fact that I'll see this film at least 10 times before the end of the year... I'll see it repeatedly because it is just BRILLIANT filmmaking. This is that painting in that museum that you look into and wonder how and why the artist decided to use those brush strokes and that shade and you marvel that you get to look at it. This is there for you to examine and take with you.
IT is powerful POWERFUL filmmaking.
Now, what is it?
The film is centered around 4 characters played by Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans and Ellen Burstyn.
I'll start with Ellen Burstyn. BEST ACTRESS GOES TO... Ellen Burstyn... I can not imagine a better performance. I say this because quite honestly...Ellen Burstyn's Sara Goldfarb in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is one of the GREAT acting performances in history. This is right there with Bette Davis' Baby Jane Hudson from WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE.... Elizabeth Taylor's Martha from WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF... In other words this isn't just an award winning performance.... but the type of performance by which others forever judge performances.
Her character begins as your grandmother.... your mother... Your father or grandfather has died. And she is, for all intents and purposes... ALONE in this world. She has her little knitting circle and she has her game shows. But she isn't special to anyone, she isn't particularly bright... She has a big heart and no one to share it with.... the heart is cracked, and her life is ending a bit each day in the coma of retirement.
She gets a call one day. They want her to be on tv. They want her to be on the show. She's all excited. Thrilled. Something is happening to her. She goes to her closet and pulls out her red dress... the one she wore at (Jared Leto) Harry's graduation. She doesn't see him much, only when he drops by to steal her tv to pawn for smack. She puts the dress on, but it won't zip up. She's too fat for it. Some friends recommend various diets... She settles on the pills...
Now... that takes you about 30 minutes into the film with this character... My God.. the changes. Physical, emotional, mental... When her teeth begin to gnash and grind the chatter... when the refrigerator... well... when you see her on speed, dragging back down, speeding back up... the popping popping popping... It's brutal. The delusion, the manic hysteria... "I'm gonna be on tv in my red dress..." shivers..
Ellen Burstyn.... consider yourself hugged. My god, BRAVO. Standing ovation. Tears out of the corners of my eyes and I whistle and clap till my hands hurt. My lady, you are a national treasure. Bless you.
This role and this performance will live in your memory.
Next, I'll talk about Jared Let's Harry Goldfarb. This isn't the Sam Jackson junkie son from JUNGLE FEVER... this is the white boy delusional soho junkie. Harry is basically a good person. He was your basic All-American goodlooking kid. Somewhere along the way, it went bad. He has the beautiful girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and the best friend, Tyrone C Love (Marlon Wayans). He's supposed to be our 'Rent-Boy' or our 'Drugstore Cowboy', but Aronofsky applies a keen sense of Sir Isaac Newton's That which goes up, must come down... to his character... and he never ever glamorizes down. It's brutal...
Marlon Wayan's Tyrone C Love... he's our cool connection man... the pal with the line to the s***. He's playing the best friend with drug connections. His character has the least screentime of the 4 I've detailed, but ya know what... he's real good. He doesn't ham it up, he plays it right on. A strong supporting role.
And then, Jennifer Connelly's Marion Silver... The most beautiful woman in film... just... oh man it's rough... After watching her in this film... I tell ya. There's just no way you can call a hooker or a stripper or go to a club that has those. I mean, physically you'll be able to, but when you look at the girls... you'll think of this story... of Jennifer Connelly. I really really hope that she pulls out a supporting nom for this character. She's our Jodie Foster/TAXI DRIVER character except... she's our friend... and she's let down.
By the time you get all the way through this film... you'll be out of breath.
It is a towering film. A masterwork. Significant. Entertaining. Enthralling. Poignant.
Aronofsky has just officially become a great filmmaker.
Harry Knowles, "Ain't it cool news"