disturbingly beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2000)

Addiction... being so completely, compulsively controlled by something, that all other facets of human existence become insignificant. Requiem for a Dream outlines this breakdown of the human spirit with more accuracy than I have ever seen on film, and does so without any trace of pretension or hypocrisy. The only knowledge I had going into this film was that some of the images were supposed to be shocking or offensive, however the only thing I saw that could be viewed as offensive was truth; and to the insecure, television-bread, suburban American, truth can be much more disturbing than any visual imagery. Don't get me wrong... Requiem for a Dream never tries to disturb, educate, preach, or glamorize anything. It entertains, and speaks to those experienced with this dark place in the human mind on their own level, as if the situations presented are 'normal'.
As far as entertainment goes, this movie has a steady flow of action, clear and solid situations, and deep, personal characterization. I can easily say that this is one of the most important films I have seen. Definate time-capsule material.