Addictions Anyone???

Rating: 10/10 (20 November 2000)

Requiem for a Dream is not for everyone . . . if you're content with the status quo and have no interest in independent film (or thought)... do not bother to see this film. You'll have recurring dreams of kitchen appliances and it will ruin your carefully constructed belief system. It is a powerful, thought-provoking film that's disturbed everyone that I know who has seen it.
Requiem for a Dream is about addictions - the addictions that we, as a society, excuse (diets) and condemn (drugs) and the way we deal with them (denial). Aronofsky takes the rule book for the typical anti-drug flick and tosses it out of the window. His film shouts its anti-addiction message louder than any after school special ever could, and although it is definitely worth watching every bit (especially the gripping ending) - it's a bitter pill. So bitter that the MPAA has given it an NC-17 rating. Yet another example of the MPAA shunning the innovative and powerful, whilst embracing the status quo. Did I mention that this film really isn't for everyone?