dream of a movie about a nightmare, for a world that needed such a wake up call

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2003)

This is one of my favorite movies and I always suggest it. The response I frequently get is how they didn't like it to which, after asking why they didn't, they respond, because it was horryfing or depressing, shocking, or something of the sort. I think that is exactly what is so wonderful about it. Aronofsky's Requiem shows to mercy to three kids who mind as well be faceless. We live in a time of addiction and abuse to drugs and finally there is a film which sugar coats nothing. What is most impressive about Selby's writing is how he's not just examined teenage drug use but adult drug use as well and in as much, knowing the problem is universal is all the more terrifying- no one is free from the clutches of addiction and uneccessary need and no one, at least should say, I can do it, I have a resistance, I can take just a little bit more. Its about pushing lines and being stuck on the other side of them. With special effects sequences which for once, don't take away from the movie but greatly add to its objective. Aronofsky throws life in our face, and we catch--in an almost welcomed discomfort--a problem, so real you feel your heart breaking for these characters everytime you watch. Leto, Wayans, the beautiful Connelly, and the wonderful Burstyn make the cast--cast rather well--and act circles around circles- wonderful performences, along with movie all unappreciated. Philip Glass provides the empowering tear-jerking requiem for a dream of a movie about a nightmare, for a world that needed such a wake up call. Definate A.