One of the most brutal, devastating accounts of addiction in media

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2013)

"Requiem for a Dream" is not so much a film as it is a groundbreaking achievement in all aspects. One would not expect an "anti-drug" film to work as well as this one does, but "Requiem" is not an "anti-drug" preach in the traditional sense; it covers four people's lives and the downward spiral they all individually go on as their journey into drugs progresses.
The first half-an-hour or so is excellent at building up a kind of suspense rivaled only by that of someone like, say, Stanley Kurbick. For this half-hour, the characters are at their happiest places; but due to drug use, something sinister is lurking around the corner, and from the start you know this will never be a happy film, as despite how accustomed these characters seem to drugs, the viewer knows this will never be the same throughout the film.
The first act ends and everything for the characters goes downhill from there. As expected, each character is given a distinct personality - the most instantly notable performance here, in my opinion, is probably Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb, the mother of Harry, one of the three teen protagonists. In one of Burstyn's most intense performances, she is a complex and confused woman; perhaps her story is the saddest because her addiction was not at her will. Still, character development as a whole is nearly perfect in this movie - all building up to the devastating, tragic ending which is instantly one of the most regretful and depressing scenes in cinema history.
This movie hurts to watch, due to its heavy themes and the absolute despair built up from the very beginning, and all climaxing down in the brutally tragic ending. "Requiem for a Dream" will make teenagers - and adults alike - hesitant to ever do the drugs they may have dreamed of once. Essential, but not an easy watching experience.