Requiem For a Dream - A Review

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2018)

It takes a considerable degree of cinematic madness to venture to make a movie like Requiem for a Dream. The reckless psychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky stands tall and bold in its title of the 9th most disturbing movie of all time according to esteemed sources. Only having been the director of Pi before Requiem, it seems to have been a leap for Aronofsky to take up a project about dark subjects like those the movie reeks of.
Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) receives a crank call about having won a spot on one of the electrifying commercials and lucky draw shows she obsesses over out of fascination. Being the spick-and-span old lady she is, she unknowingly begins speed pills to lose weight and struggle into her favourite red dress. Meanwhile her son, a spoiled junkie called Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), opens a drug business with his friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) to help his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) set up her own boutique. The three miserable youngsters and Sara slip into grave miseries and ricochet into the darkest mirage of their dreams in a requiem that plays its purpose effectively.
Believe me, there is not one performance in the movie that fails to compete with the other three. Leto and Connelly are perfectly successful in their chemistry and tragedy. Burstyn takes up a terrific makeover since her The Exorcist role years ago and her performance never lets you get comfortable in your seat.
Aronofsky and his hip-hop montage are amusing portrayals of the movie's disturbing theme. The exactitude of the pressure created by Hubert Selby Jr (also the author of the novel of that inspired the film) and Aronofsky's screenplay and Clint Mansell's music and Matthew Libatique's cinematography are what keep you interested enough till the movie takes a deep dark drift. A drift which will make every conversation about drug films excluding Requiem for a Dream incomplete.
Here is a movie so unabashed, so heavy, I say it should be a lesson to all those teenagers looking to experiment. Because it explores the dark side of the dark world. Because it tells you how you face the music after the fun. How letting lose into an addiction can cost you your freedom, body, mind and soul.