A very over-rated disappointment.

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2001)

"Requiem..." tells of the downward spiral of several lives into a drug induced oblivion. A much over-rated non-story which won no major awards, this extrapolation of the "Pi" mentality treads more in the the artsy-fartsy fringe than the mainstream offering an excellent performance by Burstyn, over done artistic effects, and little else. There are many better "druggie" flicks with real stories to tell which don't make the viewer feel like a lookie-loo at a traffic accident.
Because of it's overwrought creativity, which is more of a liability than an asset, "Requiem..." is the critic's darling. However, it is too far from the mainstream to be a popular which probably accounts for the small space occupied on Blockbuster's shelves by the new release. Blockbuster -does- know their market. As for the high marks given by IMDB.com users, one can only speculate. However, there's no way this flick could possibly score an 8.7 of 10 (at this writing) given voting by a demographically typical cross-section of the population. Over half the votes a max score of 10....I don't think so.
Recommended for those into art for art's sake films and younger adults who haven't seen this kind of kaleidoscopic visual creativity before.