you'll never do drugs again

Rating: 10/10 (24 March 2002)

put it like this: if you were to be watching this movie when you were actually ON drugs, you would immediately rush to the hospital and get a blood transfusion so that you could get the junk out of your system. Requiem has the type of impact that D.A.R.E. films and "Scared Straight" programs could only aspire to have. I recommend it to every person I know and care about, and only the most empty-headed of them are incapable of grasping it's message. and drug issues aside, it's a top-shelf piece of cinema to boot, with the kind of performances that follow you around and never leave you alone (big ups to Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, hell, even Christopher MacDonald who was only in this in bits and pieces was excellent); the kind of direction that is so advanced, the Academy has no idea it exists (Darren Aronofsky proves himself to be the best filmmaker alive in the wake of Kubrick's death); and the kind of ending that never fades, even when the credits appear on-screen. the movie's visual achievements alone (the split-screens, super-imposings, montages, inventive camera-work, break-neck editing) could be the subject of a two-semester film school course. but it's emotional accomplishments couldn't be taught in a lifetime. films like this are so rare, you'd be a sucka to pass one up.