rollercoasting *(caution: spoiler)*

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2006)

No doubt at all that Requiem has a beautiful style; its raw, energetic, and acidic. You watch it thinking these characters need your guidance. I sat wanting to interfere with them, shake them out of the delirium they had fallen into; you really end up caring about them. They generate so much venerability its so painful to see their ultimate demise.
The element that stood out the most for me was the drug montage. The images of the pupils dilating and the sounds that accompanied the sequence was so direct and fast that it portrayed the trios loss of control very well.
The scenes with Sara are heart-wrenching. She just exudes so much pathos its a real blow to the guts watching her spiral downwards. The speech she gives to her son Harry about being old and alone is touching in a strange way; she sounds whiny,almost pathetic, but you can see she is on the edge of hysteria so it is also frightening and Harry's reaction in the taxi is stunning. You get a chance to see his humanity here. When buying the television for his mother its just a cheap ploy to try and make up for being a bad son, ultimately its an empty gesture, but when he breaks down in the taxi we see he does truly care for his mother; he fears for her and genuinely wants to do something to make her better but his inability to cope with so much emotion leads to him shooting up in said taxi and after the 'drug montage' which makes this movie so memorable, we see him cold, composed and never quite so emotional for another person again.
The fridge for me added some interesting dark humor. Its uneasily funny when it jumps about, grows a mouth and tries to eat Sara but it is Sara's reaction to the hallucinations that turn it from humorous to frightening.
I thought the acting was brilliant from all, and the story was very strong, however Tyrone's relationship with his mother, as seen in the flashbacks, was not really needed. I didn't think this aspect was delved into enough to make it truly important.
At the end, its difficult to say who came out worse. Out of all the characters, you get the feeling that only Tyrone will come out of it OK. Being in prison has acted like a rehab; he's forced to go cold turkey and after whats happened to Harry you think he'll be straight once he gets out. He will get on with his life.
Sara's mind has been so destroyed she isn't aware of her circumstance (ignorance is bliss after all)and so consequently she removes herself from it all. Plus she may be mad, but she isn't lonely anymore. She has constant company living in the psychiatric ward and people to care for her; Marion is more difficult, she's now relying on entertaining the sexual desires of 'Little John' in order to fund her addiction and honestly there seems to be no end in sight for her. Harry is in a similar predicament; losing an arm has saved his life, but hes also lost his mother and his love. Personally I felt Harry was worse off, because Marion become detached from herself (not unlike Sara) she seems cold and unemotional, whereas Harry still 'feels'; he still needs or wants (difficult to tell) Marion but he knows shes lost to him.
Thats the thing about this movie; it makes you think on a number of levels. Not about wider issues perhaps, other than drug culture, but it makes you feel more than anything else.