Requiem for a Dream
Requiem for a Dream is a hard film to watch, there is no denying it. I first saw it at a matinee show on a bright sunny day in St. Louis. As I emerged from the Tivoli theatre into the daylight, it seemed impossible that the beauty of the day around me could possibly coexist in the same world as the bleak degradation that the characters in this movie descend into. Since I bought the DVD, I have been avoiding it for weeks, unsure if it was worth facing that descent. It was. Despite being a emotion bonecrusher, the quality of this film is undeniable. Darren Aronofsky has kept his touch for depicting the extremity of human emotion that he demonstrated in Pi. In Requiem, however he makes the characters so rich and engaging that the viewer is drawn along on their voyage of self destruction. This is a big improvement. One of the biggest flaws in Pi was that we have no reason to identify with the obsessive main character. In Requiem, each of the main characters is sympathetic and three-dimensional. It's this that makes the film so traumatizing. Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) is a lonely widow living alone in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. She spends her days watching television, particularly the infomercial snake oil of Tappy Tibbons (Christopher McDonald), a guru who sells a three step program to rebuild your life. One day she receives a phone call telling her that she has been chosen to appear on television. Filled with excitement, she tries to make herself over for her appearance on TV, which rapidly becomes her one reason for living. When she finds she can no longer fit into her best red dress, she starts dieting like crazy, with little success. When an unethical doctor prescribes her heavy stimulants, however, the weight starts coming off, although the side effects put Sara on the edge of madness. Watching this sweet and lonely old lady fall into drug addiction and obsession is very hard. As madness starts to creep in, Sara spends her days hallucinating in front of the television and huddling in mortal fear of the refrigerator. Harry Goldfarb(Jared Leto) is Sara's son, a heroin addict who repeatedly steals his mother's television to finance his habit. He and his partner Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans) are scrambling to climb the ladder of the drug underworld from addict to affluent dealer. While at first glance they look like a couple of scum bags, as we get to know them, they become more sympathetic. Harry is a considerate guy who wants the best for his mother and regrets the pain he causes her. Tyrone's thoughts continuously drift back to his own mother in idyllic flashbacks of his youth. Marion Silver (Jennifer Connely) is a young girl from a rich family who wants to design clothing for a living. She and Harry are in love, and together they scheme to turn Harry's drug profits into a chance for her to open a store to sell her own designs. Marion is also entangled in an unwholesome relationship with her sleazy former therapist. Despite this and her cocaine habit, the depths of which she seems unaware of, she seems like a decent person. The scenes of her and Harry together are sweet and endearing. They make us wish the best for this young couple. The fact that they share these moments in a fog of drug-induced euphoria seems almost irrelevant, thanks to Aronofsky's skilled staging, and fine performances by the Connely and Leto. As the film progresses, the hopes and dreams of the four characters are slowly strangled by their dependence on drugs. As despair encroaches on their future plans, they scramble to hold it all together. By the final sequence, the characters' degradation accelerates out of control like a runaway train. Aided immensely by the feverish compositions of the Kronos Quartet, this is one of the most disturbing sequences I've ever seen on film. Technically, this film is very well executed. Sara's nightmarish hallucinations leave the viewer shaken. The time lapse sequences convey a very believable sense of how out of control a speed addict must feel. Aronofsky uses strange perspectives to great effect. In particular, he seemingly hangs a camera from the character's neck at times, to catch every nuance of expression at their moment of greatest shame. I have to recommend this movie, but I warn you, it will not make you feel good. It will probably make you feel like humans are weak and foul things. Choose well when to watch, or risk ruining a light-hearted evening... Read more