Very intense, very beautiful and impressively thought-provoking. I wish I had a stone in stead of my heart!!!

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2003)

When I was surfing on the internet, I have seen a article about the most 25 disturbing films of all time .. And this movie was one of them along with counterparts such as Dancer in the Dark, Eraserhead, Salo, Bad Lieutenant etc. As you might have probably understood, those movies are not so pleasant to watch. Anyways, when I was in a Blockbuster in Boston, I have seen RFAD and I have remembered it from that site. I have rented the unrated uncut version and went back to my dorm, I immediately put it in my VCR. To be honest, before watching it, I didn't expect to much because the tagline says ' the downward spiral of for people because of drugs'. I thought this was another junkie movie. Boy was I wrong. When the last credits started to roll. I was in a state of shock. All I could do is to call my mom in Turkey at 2AM and sobbing like a baby for 35 minutes.
This can give you the idea. I consider my self as a pretty jaded person and I am not easily affected by movies(Except Schindler's list because I am jewish). But in RFAD's case this is not true. From my Perspective, This movie is THE BEST again THE BEST movie that has ever been put on celluloid, BY FAR. Never once in life before have I seen a gut-wrentching, heart-shattering and horrifying movie like this. This movie is a sad tragedy. The level of its tragedy can be just equaled by King Lear or Macbeth.
MILD SPOILERS BELOW!!!The movie is about four human-beings. Sara Golfarb, His son, son's friend, and son's lover. The mother is a lonely old women who wants to be on television but to make it real she should fit into her ostentatious red dress. The son Harry and his girl friend Marion are junkies whose major dream is to open a fashion store and Harry's friend Tyrone is also a junkie who wants to be a 'somebody' to reach happiness. But their goals were bullied by their addictions and as the movie goes ahead we see the hell got broke loose.
I don't want to spoil the film by telling the significant details of it but what I have to say is this is the most intense, realistic, horrifying journey that I have ever attampted to join. If you are a human, than there is no way that you cannot be affected by this flick. Especially the last 20 minute montage of this film is so powerful and so sad that a faint of heart or a squemish may want to throw himself from the window. But this shouldn't fool you because although it is not a pleasant film to watch, this doesn't mean that it is bad infact for me it is the best film of all time as I mentioned numerously.
The cinematic aspects of this film are no less then spectacular. The acting is the best one could ever attempt to see. I meant the ensemble cast but Ellen Burstyn steals the show as the desperate lonely mother. Giving the Oscar to Julia Roberts in stead of Ellen Burstyn is a laugh riot. The other actor are also more than amazing. They should have gotten at least an Academy Award nomination but who are we kidding ha!!!. The cinematography is one of the best, the directing and film editing is simply groundbreaking with hip-hop montages, split screens, reverse angels and close ups. A solid script and The most haunting score that has never been listened to since Schindler's list. The score perfectly matches with the progression of the movie infact it may be the third crucial element to make this movie the best of motion picture history, after the acting and the directing.

Also the movie deeply focuses of the weak parts of the American society. For me The T.V and show obsession of Sara Goldfarb is a reflection of the entertainment obsessed Americans. MILD SPOILER HERE!!! When Sara went to the Diet Doctor to complain about the diet pills, doctor just didn't pay attention to Sara and said she will be allright. For me it symbolizes the isolation of American people from others. Also the loneliness of Sara is very American because I don't know a nation except Americans that the people just have to rely on themselves so much that they plan to be alone. As an individual in life Americans are pathetically lonely. And Tyrone's case. MILD SPOILER HERE!!! When Tyrone was dreaming of his childhood he said to his mom that one day he is gonna be a big man. I think that sentence was put intentionally in the film to criticise that America is also a success obsessed nation that emposes 'if you are not somebody, than you are nobody' ideology to its citizens END OF THE MILD SPOILER!!!. And these seperate things are perfectly matching with the sub plots of RFAD.

Overall, This is the best film of the cinema history. Also very provacative and thought-provoking about learning the darker side of American culture by its critisizations. RFAD should have gotten 12 Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director(Darren Aronofsky), Best Actress in a leading role(Ellen Burstyn), Best Actor in a Leading Role(Jared Leto), Best Actress in a supporting role(Jennifer Conelly), Best Actor in a supporting role(Marlon Wayans), Best Original Score(Clint Mansell and the Kronos quartet). Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound an Best Sound editing but thanks to the blatant hypocrasy of the beloved Academy. Also this is a very harsh movie that never loses the high level of emotion while viewing more than once. I have watched it 18 times so far and every time I watch it I pray to have a stone in stead of my heart for not being heavily affected. Thank god for letting me to witness the zenith of cinematic beauty at the age of 20.
On a scale of 1 to 10, this movie is 1.000.000.000.000/10