Brilliant filmmaking and unflinching brutality of drug addiction!

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2000)

This is one of the best movies I've seen this year so far. Never had I been so impressed by the brilliant technical filmmaking on the harrowing and brutal subject of drug addiction. I hated Fight Club for reasons (self-conscious apathy and the ludicrous twist near the end single-handedly destroyed the whole film) but I absolutely loved Requiem for a Dream for good reasons.
I was hoping to see the film based on word of mouth but was initially disappointed in the first half hour. Then it became better and more enthralling as the film progressed and it becomes morbidly fascinating as the characters Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Harry's mother Sara - played by Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans and Ellen Burstyn - dwindles into the black hole of addiction that was haunting and frightening. I'll be able to shake off the nightmarish images of the demonic refrigerator and personal demise and depravity even for three hours after I saw the film as I write this.
Darron Aronofsky has made the landmark film (after his impressive debut Pi, for which he won Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998) that does not condemn nor glorify drug abuse and addiction. Instead, he shows us the cautionary tale of happiness and deep depression caused by abusing hard drugs and over-the-counter pills to the extent that it becomes mind-numbing and scary.
This is an important film that should become the required viewing for under-17 teenagers who have experienced substance abuse and liquor or are considering using drugs (with the exception of marijuana, which isn't a "bad" drug in my opinion). It is utterly hypocritical the underage moviegoers aren't allowed to see this film while they can get in to see R-rated movies like Fight Club and Scary Movie (the latter of which parents took the children to see in droves).
Screw the hypocrisy of MPAA and the theater managers. See this film and you'll never forget the compelling experience of movie-going like I had.