A powerful but overwrought drama that would have been better for more subtlety and less camera tricks.

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2002)

'Requiem' is one of the most overrated movies here on IMDB. To be sure it is an intense, often gripping and very well acted film. Ellyn Burstyn was unlucky not to get best actress for her harrowing role. However the film is badly directed: there are far too many camera tricks used and it feels like an exhibition of 'things I film school'. If it was just when the characters are tripping out on drugs, then the distorted camera views and use of fast-forward, slo-mo and fast editing of images would be effective. But when such things are overused, as they are here, they distance the viewer from the reality that the movie is trying to portray. They come across as showy rather than brilliant and break your suspension of disbelief.
Another thing that is rather hard to swallow is the casting of the young drug addicts: they are just a bit too good looking. Jennifer Connelly in particular is so angelically beautiful it is hard to imagine her as a drug user. She is a talented actress but, as in 'A Beautiful Mind' I think they should have cast someone who looked a little more average, who showed more of the wear and tear of life on her face.
The movie also thinks that it is smarter than it is - but it lacks the wit or gritty realism of 'Trainspotting' and basically all it has to say is that drugs are bad. It does do a powerful job of showing just how badly they can screw up your life, but really anyone with a brain knows that already.

'Requiem for a Dream' is very good, but it seems a little simplistic and loud when compared to truly great (and, significantly, non-American) films like 'Once Were Warriors' or 'Trainspotting' that also deal with drugs and domestic hells.
7/10