The Dark Ladder

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2009)

Delineating a quadruple downhill spiral of escalating drug addiction and hallucinatory madness, Darren Aronofsky's 2000 offering, "Requiem for a Dream," is some pretty intense stuff indeed. In it, Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn plays Sara Goldfarb, a sweet Jewish senior living in Brighton Beach who becomes devastatingly hooked on purple, blue, orange and green diet pills, while her son (Jared Leto), his pal (Marlon Wayans) and his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) go down what Joni Mitchell has referred to as "the dark ladder" of heroin addiction. This interesting dual story line is made even more effective by the great acting jobs turned in by the film's four principals, and the very flashy, stylized direction that Aronofsky employs, utilizing split screens, slo- and fast-motion photography, rotating camera work, fish-eye lenses, strobe lights, etc. Burstyn surely did deserve her Oscar nomination in this role, and the film, I feel, should have been singled out for its direction, photography and editing, as well...not to mention the incredible makeup job that Judy Chin & Co. accomplished, turning the still-glamorous Burstyn of 2000 into an overweight senior, and then a gaunt and grizzled hag. So yes, the film IS intense, but "not for the squeamish," as has been reported? With the exception of one fork shoved through a hand, and the quite unpleasant sight of Jared shooting up into a very messed-up (gangrenous?) arm, the picture is not at all quease inducing. By the film's end, the dreams of all four characters (the perfect dope score, a dress shop, to be on TV) lie crushed beneath a cold and miserable reality. This is a picture that transpires over the course of a summer, fall and winter; for its four main, pitiful characters, there is no spring....