A great motion picture.

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2004)

Frequently cited as an anti-drug movie, "Requiem" is really a movie about the dark side of the American Dream. All four leads want to attain something in life; appearing on a game show, opening a boutique, stop "scuffling", etc. The common thread is that none of them has any commitment to doing the hard work that most of us associate with the attainment of life's goals. This theme is introduced and repeated in the film's central metaphor, the juice commercial. Ironically, we are introduced to the commercial as the mother, addicted to her TV, watches over and over. While the infomercial promises that all can be accomplished in three easy steps (i.e, the shortcut which is central to all the mistakes that all the characters make), in telling fashion, we never learn the third step, which, of course, does not exist, just as success is not a 1, 2, 3 process. Lacking any commitment that would help them attain their goals, all the characters start to (or continue) using and/or dealing drugs to get them to their goals as quickly as possible. Eventually, they all wind up destroying their lives through a series of bad decisions which stem from drug use but are BASED on a total lack of commitment by the characters to do what is necessary instead of expedient. Ultimately, all wind up institutionalized except Jennifer Connelly, who self-destructs so far that she winds up performing degenerate sex acts to stay high. In the film's cruelest irony, she becomes the greatest "prisoner" of all. This is a brilliant movie at every level. The acting is superb, the direction is great as is the screenplay and other cinematic elements. This was really the best movie of 2000 but the subject matter was too tough for the voters. Do not underestimate how complex this movie is. I'm still talking about it 4 years later.