"We got a winner!"

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2015)

Pretty safe to say I've never squirmed my way through a movie as much as I did for this one. I'm not as squeamish as I used to be over the sight of physical damage to the human body, but Harry (Jared Leto) sticking that needle into his already severely abused arm caused me to turn my head more than once. I'm reading what an impact this film had on other reviewers here and I'm pretty convinced this is as powerful an anti-drug message as one could find anywhere. "Trainspotting" made it's point just as well on the other side of the pond some years earlier, but this one brings it closer to home. Aronofsky's style is manipulative in a way and tended to grate on me after a while, but when you think about it, that's the way it is with addiction. It requires users to use a split screen personality to hide their dependency while engaging in hyper-kinetic repetition to maintain a high. Ellen Burstyn's performance was magnificent and to my thinking, deserved the Oscar that went to Julia Roberts for "Erin Brokovich". Leto and Connelly were convincing in their portrayals, though comparing their roles today to a decade ago shows how much they've grown as actors. I haven't seen Wayans as much so I don't want to short change him, but he did a fine job here as well. This isn't the kind of movie you simply watch and forget about, it's haunting message and grotesque visuals will stay with you long after the film is over.