Four intertwined lives spiral downward as they surrender to their addiction..

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2009)

Tired of happy endings?.. This is that masterpiece of a film!.. It will torment you, distress you, make you vomit if you will, it'll drain you emotionally and psychologically.. It will haunt you long after the end credits roll.. Let me just say that I'm putting this up on my 'MOVIES to WATCH BEFORE YOU DIE' list.. Everyone has to at least watch one such bleak and harrowing film in his/her lifetime.. If you really are tired of happy Hollywood endings, then go look for this movie and just have a great depressing time!..
We meet Harry and Marion who are a couple in Brooklyn with dreams of building a small business for themselves. Both are compulsive heroin addicts. Tyrone, Harry's best friend, a heroin addict himself is a street-smart hustler who with Harry, decide on risking their chances in the realm of the drug business. Sarah Goldfarb is Harry's mom. She lives all alone in her apartment and couches the whole day in front of the TV set. It is too boring and lonely. One day she receives a call from her most loved show and gets a chance of a lifetime to appear on television. When her beloved red dress can't seem to fit her, she goes through the usual slimming methods until she winds up using diet pills (uppers).
Four intertwined lives. Four desperate dreams. Each with a down-spiraling path laid in front of them. All we can do is witness and experience the horror.
This film is SUBSTANCE and STYLE. Substance, well.. first of all, it's about substance abuse but moreover, one measure I use to assess whether a film is good or not is if I actually care about its characters. All throughout, I felt their desperation and wished that things have gone differently for them. And talk about performances! Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly are electric. Marlon Wayans who's known for his comic persona in the Scary Movie films and White Chicks shows us that he can put his A-game on the table. But you won't soon forget the courageous Ellen Burstyn. Daring and bold, she pulled off one of the best screen acting I have ever seen. Charlize Theron in Monster was something but Burstyn's was on par and very powerful. Heartbreaking is the best word to describe her scenes.
Style?.. you couldn't ask for more. I gotta give Darren Aronofsky props for using a variety of camera and editing techniques to subjectify the characters' emotions and mental states. He makes us see what they see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel, and then slams us back into harsh reality! And with such a haunting score to accompany these moments, this film is entirely unforgettable. I can honestly say that this is one of the best films I have ever seen.
This is a different kind of horror movie. You gotta have the stomach to take it. This is really heavy and intense stuff. Like I said at the beginning, if you're tired of happy endings, this is the movie for you.
I'm just glad I watched this on a Sunday morning. If it was around the 5PM-7PM mark, I would've thrown up from just feeling so bad.