Good Heavens!!!

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2002)

A punch-in-the-stomach, kick-in-the-rear, slap-in-the-face of a movie that is as heart-breaking and difficult to watch as a Super Bowl involving the Buffalo Bills. "Requiem for a Dream", along with "Traffic", was bar-none the best film of 2000. Both deal with the hidden drug war this country faces. "Traffic" is an epic that has a wide scope while "Requiem for a Dream" has a very exact focus. Coney Island is hanging on by a thread and so are four of its inhabitants. There is elderly widow Ellen Burstyn (in an almost unrecognizable role that is her finest performance which garnered her an Oscar-nomination), her young-adult son (Jared Leto), his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) and his best friend (Marlon Wayans). Burstyn gets a call one day explaining that she has been chosen to be on her favorite game show (hosted by the priceless Christopher McDonald). Burstyn is lonely and wants to go on television in her old red dress (which she cannot fit into anymore). She learns from a friend that a shady doctor will give her diet pills to help her burn off those pesky extra pounds. Meanwhile Leto, Connelly and Wayans are addicted to cocaine and heroin. They support the amazingly quick high they get from the drugs by pushing nickel and dime bags all over the city. However they get a bit more ambitious. They decide to buy in bulk in order to get more money in order to get high more often. The three want the simplest things in life. Leto wants a life with Connelly, Connelly wants to open a store that sells designer clothes and Wayans wants a woman to provide the love and compassion that his late mother gave him. It appears for awhile that the dreams may indeed come true, but drugs are not the answer and the trio soon learns this in a vividly disturbing way. Burstyn, addicted to supposedly legal drugs, will head down a path of destruction just like the three young people. Darren Aronofsky's (of "Pi" fame) haunting film is the wildest cinematic experience I have ever had. The film makes "The Exorcist" look like "Sesame Street" gone stark-raving mad. The revolutionary camera techniques and wild sequences make the film feel like the most death-defying ride at any amusement park. Hubert Selby, Jr.'s intense novel comes to frightening life (he also has a small role as a wise-cracking guard at a jail) due to a really smart screenplay, tight direction and revolutionary performances by the four key players. Burstyn goes beyond the best work she did in great films of the 1970s (most notably "The Last Picture Show", "The Exorcist", "Harry and Tonto" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"). Wayans proves to be a really solid performer after being in silly productions that had little merit. Leto also proves to be an actor that can do much more than just stand in front of the camera. Connelly's performance (a role that is hard as nails to play) just continued to show what a versatile and risk-taking actress she is. She should have been Oscar-nominated here at the very least, but the Academy did make up for their mishap with her Oscar for "A Beautiful Mind". Not a joy to watch, but an immensely important film that should be experienced at least once by all individuals who are of a mature age. Rated NC-17 (that is warranted), "Requiem for a Dream" is a sledge-hammer of a film that will leave you visibly shaken long after you first see it. It could best be described as a guided tour of Hell on Earth. 5 stars out of 5.