His clapping days are over.

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2001)

I must be desensitized, because it did nothing for me. And whatever residue was left over - it was from the story, not the direction.

Requiem was actually incredibly romanticized. Idealistic. People with their heads in the clouds, carefree and terrified to take on responsibilities. Everybody was a victim. Passive. Sucking pity from their bad luck cows for all it was worth. Pouty kids afraid of the real world. Afraid of work. "It's a b---- out there" I believe were the exact words. Hey, it took you this long to figure that out? This is new to you? You think the world owes you something? Wake up and smell the system.

By the end, each character is impaled with cold, hard reality. A metaphor for life always slapping the daydreaming escapist in the face. And the movie ends and we are forced to mourn. But grieve for what -- the four fools? Babies in a world of wolves resistant in converting to maturity.

What did Aronofsky add to Requiem? Just another MTV music video for the doper. An organically motivated skip-fest interested in everything from the mundane to the outrageous. But there is compassion - in all the mistakes and humiliation, a subtle glow of empathy haunts the film like a possessive ghost. Requiem could have been creepy. Perverted, disturbing and hard to watch. But instead it had a relatively main-stream focus. Pulling out before we couldn't handle it. Leaving all the bad stuff to be insinuated. Moments of talent, but no limits were pushed. But I suppose that is the practical approach, since all movies are so commercialized today that once a director finally breaks into the business, (s)he is terrified to gamble that safety for the sake of true cinematic exhilaration.
And what exactly was so original? The editing tricks? That clichÃ© dock hallucination? That Smashing Pumpkins video rip-off effect? Pupils dilating? That cult of geriatrics? Intimate human drama impresses me. Flying pastries do not.