Primitive drama for MTV- generation

Rating: 5/10 (4 August 2013)

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"Requiem for a dream "obviously has got strong acting . Jennifer Connelly shows much more talent here than in her awarded performance in "Beautiful mind" ( by the way it was good performance) . Ellen Burstyn was rightfully nominated for Oscar for her performance as the mother of main hero. Jared Leto isn't bad either and Aronofsky deserves some respect for turning Wayans into a serious actor (at least for one movie).
The music by Clint Mansell is a classic by now . Strong , haunting , memorable. As a visual experience "Requiem" is also attractive . The montage took a lot of work and time to look so impressive . They should nominate "Requiem " for best editing.
Putting aside the technical strengths and good acting , " Requiem for a dream" fails as a movie for me. The whole thing feels like a MTV drama . It's loud , colorful , sometimes shocking and as deep as average music video shown on that channel.
Many people who praise "Requiem" admits that they have seen the movie only once , because they were to afraid to watch it again . I strongly recommend that you should watch this movie at least 2-3 times . If you watch it only once the shock might fool you that you have seen something deep and thought provoking . If you watch it again you will notice how cold , calculated and mechanical this movie really is . Drugs are bad – says Aronofsky and that's really the only thing he has got to say . Everything else is just a distraction.
The characters are barely written . The relationship between Leto and Burstyn , love between Leto and Connelly , friendship between Leto and Wayans – it's all incredibly thin and barely touched . Connelly's character is an terrible cliché – daughter of a rich people , she feels unloved because her parents care only about money , she feels lonely , her parents are far away and left her with a guardian , bla bla bla . If it wasn't for Connelly I wouldn't care about her character at all . She was able to bring some soul into such lame character . The movie also never explains or develops Wayans past ( one flashback with his mother and that's it ? Really ?) same as never gives the viewers a little bit more information on Leto's and Burstyn's family life.
"Requiem" also has got some serious plot problems . Connelly is a daughter of rich people. They give her lot of money , yet when she needs the money the most , in critical situation of the story , they "magically" disappear not leaving any trace where they can be . The powerful drug dealer that rules the whole town has incredible money and power . Yet , he's not able to find a girl for himself !? That's a chance for Connelly to get some money ?! In real life he would be surrounded by at least few girl's , but not here . Here Aronofsky needs to break Connelly's character emotionally , so he crates two terribly unrealistic situations for a large dramatic effect.
I think it's stupid that Leto kept injecting drugs in ONE PLACE OF HIS BODY . Even when his arm is ALL PURPLE AND LOOKING F****** TERRIBLE ?! Seriously , how stupid is that ?! I'm not a junkie , but I wouldn't never do that . I've seen also a documentary about junkies . They inject drugs in different places on the body to prevent danger . They aren't retarded as the movie suggest. And it's no way possible that doctor in hospital would call police first and not take care of the sick arm first . I also "love" the description of America in this movie. EVERY doctor , cop or prison guard is a cold blooded sadist or uncaring bastard at best . So you see , our heroes are living in such OPPRESIVE country that they HAD TO become junkies .
The ending of the movie is basically an marathon of torture for each hero. Aronofsky plays with viewers emotions in a rather primitive way (4 tragedies combined together instead of one). "Saw" has more subtlety. Funny thing – on repeated viewings , when the element of surprise is gone , you will find that there's no heart , no real emotion hidden in "Requiem".
I give it 5/10 . Maybe the pure shock will keep some people away from drugs . That's a good thing . Except that , "Requiem" is more of MTV video instead of art . Style over substance . More shock than a message. Movies like "Naked lunch " or "Fear and loathing in Las Vegas" are better movies about drugs.