style over substance

Rating: Null/10 (19 October 2000)

REQUIEM is so thrilling, so gorgeously edited, so detailed and hypnotic...why does it have to have such thin, stereotypical characters? Only Jennifer Connely and Marlon Wayans feel real. Ellen Burstyn plays her heart out trying to give dimension to a stereotype of a Jewish mother who is in essence, an imbecile. I'm sorry but being old and Jewish and living in Brighton Beach does not make you a moron. Jaret Leto similarly struggles with his Jewish version of Tony from Saturday Night Fever...does anybody even have that Brooklyn accent anymore? REQUIEM is a true indicator of where things are at in cinema in the year 2000: unbelievable cinematic virtuosity alongside characterizations that are cliched, nostalgic, and just plain out-of-touch.