A swingeing blow in the midriff

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2001)

From the very moment you sink into your chair and switch on 'Requiem For A Dream', you become a passenger on of the most intense and frightful rides into the living hell of drugs. With his second movie, Darren Aronofsky hits you in the stomach so it hurts with a drama so real depicted, it works as much more than just a wake-up call to how the satisfactory inebriation of drugs can degenerate to inhuman and depraving fates. The actors, the performance of Ellen Burstyn in particular, are more or less convincing to the max. "Requiem" means originally 'mass for a departed soul' (hence: everything). The cinematography, dialogue, settings and lighting... everything is excellent for its purpose; to make you feel sick. Towards the end, Aronofsky dazzles the viewer with well composed back and forth sequences, ready to slay the entire audience one by one... with this evil drug nightmare. The cinematic experience itself, cannot be put to words. You would have to see it for yourself. Recommended to everyone. A true and healthy movie of the reality.
whiplash-