A Powerful film from a talented filmmaker

Rating: Null/10 (30 October 2000)

Darren Aronofsky's frantic, music-video style of directing isn't particularly original - Danny Boyle, David Fincher, and Tom Tykwer all have made names for themselves with it within the last few years - but Aronofsky is really the first to use it to make a truly emotionally wrenching film. His stamp is on nearly every scene (incidentally, the little criticism this film has received is because of this), but rarely feels out of context. It all adds to the power of the story, it all compliments the emotions and feelings the characters are going through. This is why this is a great film. The camera tricks and weird angles aren't 'cool' in 'Requiem for a Dream' like they are in 'Trainspotting' or 'Run Lola Run' - they're just disturbing. Which is exactly what they're supposed to be.
If 'Requiem' falls short anywhere, its thematically. This is a film about addiction, desperation, loneliness, and the loss of hope, with drug abuse as the vehicle. So on the surface, you have this immensely bleak picture of 4 people abusing drugs with very little if any insight into why these people ever started in the first place, any insight into the pleasure of it. Consequently, the film almost comes off as unintentionally preachy. I have no doubts that this was intended as a film about giving up hope and the drug abuse was merely incidental, but I can't help but wonder if the theme would've come across a little better if a different vehicle for the characters' demise had been chosen.