Rating: 
Summary: Best Title Ever
Review: This was a very interesting film. Ellen Burstyn is superb as a sweet and lonely widow who simply wants to lose a few pounds and gets addicted to (doctor prescribed) amphetamines. Her son (Jared Leto) is a serious heroin junkie, along with his best friend (Marlon Wayans, in an excellent role), and girlfriend (Jennifer Connolly). At the end, all their lives have been destroyed, to a larger or lesser degree, by their involvement with drugs. They lost their freedom, their mind, their dignity, and quite literally, even more. The very end of the movie is quite brutal, but the story had been building up to it, so it did not come as a complete shock. Some parts were too heavy, like the evil and quasi-maniacal attendants in the psychiatric ward. I thought that was pushing it. I did like the message, perfectly conveyed by the title. Drugs will kill whatever dreams you had. There was no doubt in my mind after seeing this film.The film was slightly amateurish on the hyperreality effects: the chewing, slurping sounds, the mega-visuals, the repetitive sequences. They look like just taken from the assignment of your first year of film school. Regarding the DVD features: the documentary disappointed me. I wish it had more structure. For example, they could have strengthen their explanation of how they filmed some scenes by following up with the finished scene. The documentary looks like it was put together quickly. The director's commentary also leaves much to be desired. Even directors would benefit from rehearsing what they have to say beforehand. On the other hand, the Independent Film Channel documentary is far better because it is more structured. Also, the segment with Ellen Burstyn interviewing Hubert Selby is awesome. He cries, he laughs, he is honest about his life and shortcomings, and comes through as such a humble person.
Rating: 
Summary: Weighing In On Requiem
Review: I read all of the member reviews for "Requiem" and there is little to add in way of praise for this astonishing film. It is ashamed that this "Requiem" got lost in the shuffle of drug films, last year. It is a far better film than the cooly detached "Traffic" or the inane "Blow". This should be the last film made on the subject of drug addiction...there is really nothing more to say. Aronofsky has made a film that captures the paradoxical pleasure/pain principle of addiction. The axiom of "Requiem" is this: All of us stand dangerously near the threshold of self-consumption. The monkey is waiting to jump on your back everywhere you go: the doctor's office, the liquor store, behind the Wall Mart, the playground, or the beach. As we watch friends and family spiral out of control, we realize that this could be OUR family, OUR friends; all of us. The entire cast of the film was daring, and took chances with tainting their images by portraying such nakedly vunerable characters. These were roles that many actors would take a pass on, because of the emotional toll that a film like this demands on the human psyche. It is reavealing that Hollywood chose Julia Roberts, their own "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", over outsider Ellen Burstyn for Best Actress. Ms. Burstyn is a fearless and consumate actress and she will be remembered for this role...and twenty years from now "Requiem" will be remembered as THE drug film.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing but good.
Review: The interesting thing about this movie is that it truly helps the viewer to relate to people who we usually see from an emotional distance. It's a bit scary because as you're watching it you realize that the characters lives could have gone in a positive direction but, by what seem to be small decisions, end up in a living hell.
Watching this movie gave me chills but it served as a good reminder why we should never give up.
Rating:
Summary: A Trippy Masterpiece
Review: Bizarre, singularly unique and startling in unexpected ways, "Requiem for a Dream" is a rare achievement - a movie that is so innovative in its dialogue and characterizations, it can either drive you crazy or make you leap for joy! There is little joy in the story itself, as it deals with very adult themes of drug addiction, victimization and unpleasant characters. However, if you give it a chance, it will blow you away with its sheer velocity and transformative power. A nightmare one moment, a walk on the beach the next, its hypnotic and never dull. Plus - it has one of the most remarkable performances by a female actor in the past 20 years in Ellen Burstyn's fierce portrayal of an addicted mother. Nominated for an Academy Award, Burstyn lost to the ever-popular Julia Roberts last year, but deserves to be hailed as a landmark role...perhaps even a signature role (for sheer drama, this beats her Oscar winning "Alice Doesn;t Live Here Anymore" as well as her up-until-now greatest accomplishment as Regan's mother in "The Exorcist." Put the kids to bed and get ready for a dazzling cinematic experience - and when its over, be sure to hug your spouse tight and embrace your own life, whatever its challenges. This one's destined to be hailed decades from now as a truly groundbreaking achievement!
Rating:
Summary: A Nightmare Wraped In A Delusion
Review: Requiem For A Dream, based on a book by Hubert Shelby jr. of the same title, is the best film ever made. This is also a tribute to the power of film making as a art. The brilliant perfromances played out by Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connely, and Marlon Wayans bring the terrifying and shocking book. Requiem For A Dream is about four people in Connely Island, New York who dream about better lives but fail miserably as shown in the most shocking 30 minutes ever filmed. Ellen Burstyn gives the performance that actors, directors, and writers dream about. Ellen Burstyn's character recieves a phone call saying that she will be on a self help show. Unsatisfied with her apperance, she goes on weight loss drugs that give her speed-like side effects. But, she goes on a free fall into the requiem along with her son, her son's girfriend, and her son's best friend. Jared Leto plays a man who wants to make it big by selling heroin. Marlon Wayans' character and Jennifer Connely's character tries to help him help, but go into the requiem along with him. Requiem For A Dream's breakout point is the score, film editing, and sound editing. The score is amazing and plays out beautifully through out the whole film. The film editing is absoultly stunning, especially during the drug taking and Requiem sequinces. The sound editing brings out their world into your world. It is almost better to have a Dolby Digital sound system to get the full sound. In short, Requiem For A Dream is the greatest film ever made. The stars give absoultly amazing performances. The score, film editing, and sound editing is great. Darren Aronsosfky is a genius. I personally can not wait for Batman: Year One which is directed by Aronosofsky. Requiem For A Dream is brilliant film, but not for the squeamish. Recomendations:
Pi
The Exorcist
Trainspotting
A Clockwork Orange
Liquid Sky
Fight Club
Dark City
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie...
Review: If you have good taste in film making, after watching this movie you will think Darren Aronosky is a genius. There aren't words to describe this movie but just one, "Brilliant".
Rating:
Summary: This "Requiem" is a Heavyweight!
Review: Well, I guess Amazon's Jeff Shannon would call me a masochist, because I did watch this film two nights in a row. Of all the recent drug-themed movies ("Blow," "Traffic," "Jesus' Son"), this is probably the most powerful. It is also the most adventurous cinematically, as well as being the most effectively cautionary of all these cautionary tales. Several viewers below noted how stunned they were by the cinematography, the editing and the top-notch acting. I certainly had expected a well-acted film--the cast alone would suggest that. Ellen Burstyn's has garnered a good deal of well-deserved acclaim. And I knew that Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans were up and coming young actors--who basically needed a plum role or two to really jump start their careers. Well, they certainly got a chance to strut their collective stuff in this release, and I hope they're able to capitalize on the film's artistic success. But I have to admit, I was unprepared for the film's powerful contemporary feel. The old fashioned 50s style title (evocative of such films as "Hatful of Rain" and the "The Man With the Golden Arm") had me fooled. The startling camera work, the jump editing, the stark soundtrack (courtesy of the Kronos Quartet) were anything but old fashioned. In lesser hands, it might have risked cliche --but director Darren Aronofsky and screenwriter Hubert Selby Jr. have all avoided the trap of sheer avant-garderie by emphasizing the human element over mere style. A haunting, ultimately devastating film.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: Darren Aronofsky, it seems to me, is on his way to be one of the best, most influential directors of the 21st century. His work on Requiem For A Dream, like on Pi, is absolutely stunning, with brilliant use of experimental photography and editing techniques, short, thematically repeating shots (also used in Pi) and the original split-screen techenique. The movie is truly breathtaking, and I mean that most literally - I was starting to run out of oxygen after the first thirty minutes. And I only saw it on VCR. I can only imagine what this must be like in a huge, dark theatre. The harshness of the scenes and the fast, video-clip pace of the movie make it a very difficult, but very rewarding, experience. The seemingly complicated plot covers for a very simple idea. The story (This time adapted from a novel, the story for Pi was written by Aronofsky himself and was much more complicated and original) revolves around four main characters, and tells their four individual tales, with the common elements of addiction, illusion and their consequences. This idea, though, is materialized wonderfully, and makes for a very, very powerful movie. All four characters - Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), his mother, Sarah (Ellen Burstyn), his girlfriend, Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and his friend and drug-dealing partner Tyron (Marlon Wayans), are remarkably well-developed, and each one is a full, real human being. Praise should go to Aronofsky but also to all four wonderful actors, especially Burstyn who did a really remarkable job as the TV junkie jewish mother. The movie is shocking, difficult, painful. You'll feel like your brain is being torn out and cut into little bits. But it's worth every minute. Do NOT rent this out for good light entertainment, but watch it, and eagerly wonder what Darren Aronofsky has in store for us next. I know I am.
Rating:
Summary: A most intense and gut-wrenching experience
Review: Ellen Burstyn is goddess of acting. This is one of her best performances, if not one of the best performances I have ever witnessed. This is a masterpiece, and probably the most incredible two hours I've spent in quite some time. Yes, it's depressing as dark shadows on the Antarctic mountains, but the experience is so worth it. Go call your parents when you've seen it: tell them you love them. I never wanted to do that after I saw a film -- until I saw this one.
Rating:
Summary: one of my top two
Review: Any movie that can leave me speechless is worthy of a second, third, fourth... viewing. I walked out of that theater numb, disgusted, and emotionally drained. In fact, my first words, nearly half an hour later, were, "Did you like it?" to which I recieved an equally numb nod. The film follows four New Yorkers and their downward spiral with the world of addiction. Although there is no distinct lead, the focus is mostly on Jared Leto and Ellen Burstyn, who play a mother and son who are equally destroyed by the world they succumb to. Leto plays Harry Goldfarb, a twentysomething "loser" that seems relatively seasoned in the drug world. The movie follows his decline from a kid with (albeit drug-related) economical ambitions to a desperate junkie unaware of his own plight. Leto is surprisingly engaging in this role, reducing himself to beautifully vulnerable tears one moment, forcing bravado the next. Burstyn plays his mother, a woman left alone with her television. She falls victim to her only companion when a contest "randomly selects" her as a winner to appear on television. She becomes obsessed with fitting into the red dress she "wore to Harry's high school graduation," and a quack doctor prescribes her a rainbow of uppers and downers that turn her into a paranoid pill-popper, bent on maintaining the dignity that a television appearance would bring. Burstyn is quite simply amazing in the role, especially when she is frantically delivering one of the most moving soliloquies I have ever heard. The movie also follows a serious (!) role for Marlon Wayans, whose choppy dialogues with Leto indicate the detached world that drugs bring on. Wayans handles the role more than capably, never once slipping into the caricature everyone has grown to recognize. In my opinion, the most fascinating downfall of "Requiem" comes in the form of Jennifer Connelly's (Labyrinth) character, Marion. She starts the movie as an effortlessly beautiful girlfriend to Leto, but, as situations become increasingly dire, she spends more and more time in front of the mirror, applying the vixen-like makeup that gets her what she needs--a fix. She tells Leto that he makes her feel "like a person," at one point, but when she is separated from him, she is nothing close to that. As far as presentation is concerned, the movie is absolutely visceral. It is truly no-holds barred, and doesn't glamorize drugs the way Hollywood seems to. The actual use of the drugs is hurled at the audience in a flash!-cut!-flash! sequence that made me sick. Tourniquet-Vein-Bubble-Dialation of the pupil... all in a matter of seconds. It's sickening. It's a great movie for D.A.R.E. or somebody to force kids to watch. The movie is superior on every level, but definitely not for the faint of heart. It will stay with you for days, and that is truly its purpose.
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