visceral, style and substance abuse

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2000)

Its easy to understand why some people were left feeling cold by Darren Aronofsky's second feature. It is very bleak. In a loose sense Aronofsky's first two films are outright horror films, each one a throwback to an older horror genre- Pi is the classic paranoid, mad doctor syndrome, and Requiem is reminiscent of the doom and gloom, anti-drug propaganda films made in the 50's and 60's. It is Requiems decidedly downbeat, hopelessness that first turns off many viewers, but the second complaint I heard was for lack of character development. Well, the characters aren't really the issue. Its not a film about whom these addicts are, it's about what happens to them. Like a boxing movie that's not about the fighters, but about the combat itself. If one wants to damn Aronaofsky for that, fine; it is a legitimate gripe since he could have easily fit a few more scenes of development into it, but I don't really think that was his concern. The downward spiral they all share is the focus, and Aronofsky does a good job of hitting the viewer with it like a brick.