Whew, What a Film

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2017)

Requiem for a Dream (2000), directed by Darren Aronofsky, kind of makes you wonder about the filmmaker's past, and just what spurred him to make a movie as dark and depressing as this. It practically screams "Don't do drugs, kids!" but it does so in the artsy kind of way that keeps you enthralled and never even approaches the area of preachy. In fact, it just makes you downright scared of addiction.
Ranging from three of the seasons, summer to fall to ultimately winter, the film represents how the characters' lives get darker and colder with each season that progresses. Obviously, summer being the brightest and warmest, and winter being the darkest and coldest.
Addiction is a real thing, and throughout the film, you'll see through Aronofsky's eyes the kind of effects it can (will) have on you. Throw in a beautiful, melancholy score, and you get a touching motion picture that you'll never forget. I can actually hear the Lux Aeterna melody as I write this, but that's probably because I'm listening to it right now.
Requiem for a Dream hosts four main characters, Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb, a more serious than normal Marlon Wayans as Tyrone, Jennifer Connelly as Marion, and Jared Leto as Harry Goldfarb, who has ties with each of the other three characters (mother, friend, girlfriend). Each of them is or will become addicted. And each of them meets different, yet terrible, fates in the end.
Ellen Burstyn brings the character of Sara Goldfarb to life so well that it makes me never want to grow old. Starting out as a sweet, (if a little kooky) lonely old woman, her quest to become beautiful again for her game show appearance that she can't wait for causes her to become addicted to diet pills, and everything in her life spirals out of control from there.
This film is not for everyone. If you'd rather watch a feel-good movie where the protagonist(s) prevail and everybody is happy in the end, you should probably stay away from Requiem for a Dream. Everyone else – come into this movie with an open mind and just enjoy the ride (if that's the correct phrase) that Aronofsky is about to take you through.