Requiem For A Dream (2000)

Cast : Ellen Burstyn
Jennifer Connelly
Jared Leto
Marlon Wayans

Genre : Drama / Crime

Director : Darren Aronofsky

Rating : 9/10

Ever since I saw this movie, I have been dying to review it. Reason of course is quite simple. This has been like the most impressive one that I have seen in recent times. Subject is very close to my heart (I’ve already told you how much I love junkie-shit). It captures the all basics brilliantly. In fact if I’m asked to list the movies that I wish I had made, this one would be right at the top. And believe me when I say that the theme isn’t the only reason on which I based this choice, there are a lot of others...

Firstly, it is definitely the director. I have to admit that direction and screenplay (written by Hubert Selby Jr., who incidentally wrote the novel on which it is based too) might seem to be quite weird to most of you, and you can be forgiven if you mistake the movie for a documentary or a television show. But I have to say that Darren Aronofsky did complete justice to it (you have to admit that it’s not everyday you find such a perfect adaptation of a novel). It’s as if the novel was written for Darren only. Every sequence has a meaning attached to it, and love scenes particularly were the most perfect blend of sensuality and erotica I’ve ever seen (not to forget the awesome depiction of the junkie psyche which in turn is the whole underlying basis of the movie).

Coming back to the whole theme and the story of the movie. Here I would like to just summarize the whole thing up. Story is simply about four people who have great dreams and high expectations of their lives, and how all of them are shattered brutally and heart wrenchingly in the end due to their addiction to drugs spiraling out of their control. But believe me that it’s not as simple as it sounds. When you see it, it takes your soul to a completely different level where you will see and feel things like never before. You will actually get the feel of sufferings and pain that the characters experience, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that it will be a life changing experience for you.

I’ve come across a lot of different reactions to this movie. I’ve seen people run out of the room (‘coz they couldn’t watch it), some found it too boring and most of them found it too “full of pain” and “real” to watch, and sincerely, I know the difference. Then, I’ve also seen people applauding it in an unstoppable manner (confirming that I’m not the only weirdo who worships this movie). And then there’s the lot that sits stunned (I had a similar first reaction), ‘coz it really can take your breathe away and blow your mind. You might be too stunned to speak and words will fail you. Of course there are those too who actually cry but let’s not discuss them (partly because I’m one of them).

Of cast, Jared Leto, as the guy who is completely in love with his girlfriend and who wants to make up to his mother for his past mistakes, is very good. Marlon Wayans impresses too, mostly because of the flashbacks he gets of his mother which show a completely different side to his character’s personality (these scenes are among the ones that make you cry). Then there’s Jennifer Connelly, a girl who has to turn to prostitution (kind of!) to satiate her addiction (it’s fucking tragic!). Have to say, Connelly never looked as beautiful as in this one (not to mention, it’s one of her most brilliant performances). Last but not least by any means, in fact the most surprising and impressive of the lot, is Ellen Burstyn. She plays a woman whose unrealistic expectations of appearing on a T.V. show drives her towards drug overdose unknowingly, and by the time she actually comes to know about it she has gone completely nuts (in fact, she makes you cry the most…). I have to put in a word for Clint Mansell’s music here, without him, this movie would have been completely crippled.

It’s an extremely brilliant piece of art; nothing like this was ever made. I recommend this to each and every one of you. I can’t really fathom why it couldn’t win an Oscar (probably because it was pitted against an obviously tough competition that included Gladiator). But it is definitely worth a watch (maybe a hundred times).

It’s touching, brutal, real, fucking brilliant and definitely one of the bests ever…