Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

Rating: 5/10 (2 September 2004)

Requiem for a Dream must be one of the most unnecessarily overhyped films of the last few decades. By no means it's a bad film butis it really worth all the praising it gets and the commotion it caused? After all, Darren Aranofski's film based on the novel by Herbert Selby is only stating the obvious Drugs are bad and they will, eventually, lead you into a downward spiral of madness and destroy your life. When talking about the screenplay, Requiem for a Dream has nothing new or extraordinary to offer. We follow the unhealthy actions of 4 people. Jarred Leto and Marlon Wayans star as two Coney Island junkies who want to get rich fast and easy by dealing drugs. Leto's character Harry is doing it all for his beautiful girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) so she can open her very own fashion store, selling her proper designs. Ellen Burstyn puts down an amazing performance as Leto's TV-addicted mother who gets hooked on diet pills after she's made believe to appear on her favorite show.
I repeat, Requiem for a Dream certainly isn't a bad film. It even is a very well elaborated story with fascinating acting. But the main problem, I think, is that Arranofski too easily thinks that he created a controversial shocker. And that's not the caseIt might look like he directed the perfect "Anti-Drug-Therapy" movie to him, but he's about 10 years too late for that. Fans of art-house cinema will merely look at it as `been there, seen that'. The visual experiments often annoy and the characters are a bit too shallow to feel any compassion for. The musical score, however, is simply brilliant and probably even the most powerful aspect about the entire film. Although I haven't been able to find it yet, I'm expecting a lot more from `Last Exit to Brooklyn', which was also adapted from a Herbert Selby novel. Requiem for a Dream is recommendedbut please don't rate it 10 out of 10 here on this site. It's already ranked way too high in the IMDb top 250.