A Powerhouse Drama about Addiction

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2012)

Man, this movie is intense. I was introduced to the work of director Darren Aronofsky when I was in college. I'd never heard of him or his movies, but I had a friend that would rave about how excellent he was. Once I finally got around to checking out REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, my mind was blown. I couldn't even smoke a cigarette for the first three hours after the movie had ended. With this one movie, I was convinced that Aronofsky was a director to keep tabs on because this is a man who knows how to get under an audience's skin. The movie based on a novel from Hubert Selby, Jr. It follows four people caught in the throes of addiction: Harry Goldfarb (Leto), his mother Sara (Burstyn), his girlfriend Marion (Connelly), and his best friend Tyrone (Wayans). Each of them has their drug of choice, and each of them experiences the highs before the true danger behind the choices they've made becomes a reality. Harry and Tyrone are heroin junkies, content with pawning Sara's TV for a fix. Marion is a girl from a comfortable background with dreams of designing her own clothing and a love for cocaine. And Sara withers away in miserable retirement until she's presented with an opportunity to appear on her favorite infomercial/game show and her desperation to get in shape for her big appearance leads to a debilitating speed habit. This is not a movie about overcoming these obstacles, it's about the horrors of addiction.
Fair warning to those who haven't seen this movie: it can be a little rough for the feint of heart. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM combines a powerful story with amazing performances, a killer soundtrack from Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet, and hyperkinetic editing that will get your own heart rate jacked. Thanks to Aronofsky's talented vision, the audience experiences the highs and lows of these characters and will have you wincing in pain along with them. The final act of the movie, when everything goes full tilt, is intense. It pulls no punches in depicting where addiction can lead. This would be the perfect anti-drug PSA because, as is usually the case in real life, addiction wins. It's not something that be shrugged off or sugar- coated and Aronofsky (and Selby) shoves your face in it with horrifying depictions of the consequences. You watch as these characters desperately try to rationalize what they're doing, finding excuses to justify their actions. Each of them has their hopes and dreams Harry and Marion want to open a boutique to sell her clothing designs, Tyrone wants to honor his mother's memory with his own personal success, and Sara just wants someone to care about her. Unfortunately, their habits (and, in one case, an apathetic health care system) win them over, slowly destroying them until the final gripping montage shatters any remaining hope for them. I can't stress enough how powerful this movie is and, love it or hate it, everyone should watch it at least once.
Now, a movie about addiction won't work unless you care about the characters and that's another aspect where this movie excels. I want to know how in the world Ellen Burstyn lost the Academy Award for Best Actress to Julia Roberts (for ERIN BROKOVICH, where she flashes her cleavage and pretends to be a lawyer). Burstyn is amazing in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, more than any other performance in the film. She is a tortured soul and I don't know about anyone else but I felt more for her than any other character. She's retired, widowed, and just wants someone to pay attention to her. Naïve, she doesn't even appear to know or understand that her one and only son is a junkie. She does what she has to do for him, even if it means a weekly trip to the pawn shop to retrieve her TV. When she is given a chance to appear on TV, she's just so desperate to lose the weight and you hate to watch her begin the slippery slope of pill addiction. Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly do a fantastic job as well, and even Marlon Wayans is commendable here. I want to know how Wayans can prove he has some serious acting chops here, and then throw them away to continue making movies like WHITE CHICKS. Depressing as it may be, I absolutely love this movie. A real movie is more than just spectacle, it's substance and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM has it in spades. It will leave you unnerved.