In the tradition of films like "American History X", and "Boys Don't Cry", a film that needs to be seen.

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2001)

"Requiem for a Dream" is not a pretty movie, most of us cannot identify with the main characters, it does not allow you to feel good at any point, except maybe to think, "I'm glad I never got mixed up with drugs."

I require the title of every movie to make sense, so examining this one I come up with, "A musical service for the repose of the dead (requiem)" for "something of beauty or charm associated with dreams rather than reality." And that perfectly describes the film.
SPOILERS... There are lots of people in this film, but it is the story of only four of them - Sara (Ellen Burstyn), who gets scammed into sending an application (with money, no doubt) for a TV appearance, then needing to lose weight, getting in with a shady diet doctor, eventually getting hooked on pills and turning into this monster of a person who no longer can relate to the world.
Harry (Jared Leto), her son, along with Marion (Jennifer Connelly), his girlfriend, and Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), his friend, all get caught up in the drug culture. He repeatedly steals Sara's TV set, wheels it down to pawn for drug cash, she goes behind him and pays to get it out of pawn. "But he's my only son", she pines when asked why she doesn't call the police.
They get wise, buy some good stuff, cut it, make a good profit, repeat the cycle, eventually hoping to get rich. But their "habit" clouds their judgement, they get screwed, they drive towards Florida to get more stuff, are arrested at a hospital stop 600 miles south of NYC, Harry has his arm surgically removed because of use-induced infection, Tyrone ends up in prison, Marion has to prostitute herself to get drug money, Sara has shock treatment and is never herself again. Each tragedy, each shattered "dream", a result of drug use. And the whole film is the "requiem" for those dreams.
I'm sure some of all these things happen some time, but in all I found this to be just a bit of a caricature of how the drug culture ends the functional lives, sooner or later, of all who get mixed up in it. Thus the title of the film.
Jennifer Connelly has always been beautiful, but as she matures is also turning into one of our finest female actors. Although Burstyn received the Oscar nomination, I think Connelly's performance was the best in this film. Like most of the "mature" voters, I rate it "8" of 10, unlike all those "under-30" voters who rated it "9" and "10" because of the "gee-whiz" factor, or maybe they could identify with the characters more than I can. I didn't always care for the strange way the movie was filmed, although much of it was necessary for telling this story. The first time I saw Tyrone running in the alley with the camera somehow attached to him, I thought that was neat and unique. However, as they used it for several other scenes, I began to focus on the camera technique rather than the story.
I saw the DVD. It has one of the most irritating menu presentations possible, using a test pattern raster with interference. Cute, but I soon found myself avoiding use of the menu. However, the picture and sound of the movie itself, in Digital Dolby 5.1, are really first rate.