Rating: 
Summary: Ellen Burstyn should have won the academy award
Review: This disturbing film, creatively directed by Darren Aronofsky of "Pi" fame is about drug addition. For Ellen Burstyn, cast in the role of Sarah Goldfarb, a lonely Brooklyn housewife who is trying to lose weight to appear on a TV show, the drug of choice is diet pills. For her son, played by Jared Leto; his girlfriend, played by Jennifer Connely; and his pal, played by Marlon Wayans, the drug is heroin. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby, Jr., who also wrote the screenplay, the setting is a run-down and sad Brooklyn neighborhood near the beach, where buildings are old, people are poor and the American dream is a far off taunting illusion. The time period is unclear because the TV set, which is the center of Sarah Goldfarb's life, is of 1950s vintage; and yet the characters all use cell phones. But these details really don't matter much. There are enough other fantasy elements in this film to hurl it into the age that created music videos.Using creative film techniques, the director has managed to bring the audience right into the mental states of the addicts. There are extreme close-ups, slow-motion and fast-motion sequences and split screen effects. We go on the fantasy trip with the characters and then we crash with the reality. We watch the effects on them as their personalities change as well as their physical appearances. The result is chilling. The script calls for outstanding acting jobs and Ellen Burstyn's work is perhaps the finest of her long career. The other actors also shine in these very challenging performances. Jared Leto is more than just a handsome young actor; Jennifer Connely, who is almost too pretty for her harrowing role, is excellent; and Marlon Wayans, who we usually see in comedies, proves here that he handle a serious part. This is not a film for the squeamish. It is deeply disturbing and sad. But the discomfort is worth it for those who are willing to explore this underbelly of a perverse American dream. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie : 2000
Review: Requiem for a dream, in my opinion, was the best movie in Y2K. Sure, there are powerful performances, but what's makes this film even more special is that you actually feel for the characters. Also, I thought the score throughout the film was haunting, and all the editing (esp. the fast forward parts), was very fun to watch. This DVD is the unrated DVD that was shown in theaters. Basically, the film is rated NC-17. But you can also buy the movie in an R-Rated version. The only difference between the unrated and R-rated versions is that Marion's party scene at the end (which is explicit), was cut shorter. WOW, that's a really big difference, yeah right! One big difference between the two DVDs is that the Unrated version has a lot more features, and the R-rated only has theatrical trailers. I totally recommend this movie and DVD, and it ain't for the kids, but anyone who is addicted or plans to be, should consider watching this movie. It will definitely change your life.
Rating:
Summary: Total Mind [...]
Review: I went to the video store to rent it. The clerk warned me"its good, but its depressing".. I thought "ive seen Titus, I can handle morbidity...." WRONG! This movie without a doubt is THE MOST DISTURBING, DISORIENTING, SHOCKING , MIND NUMBING , SOUL DRAINING FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN! After the credits rolled, I just say that there, exhausted, dazed, confused and just watched with glazed eyes as the credits rolled. I literally had to rouse myself, and plunge myself in another activity to "shake off" the after effects of watching this film....This movie is the most powerful and intrusive and yet, well crafted film ever put on celluloid, period. Now, as to the review...I dont agree with all these heavy-handed PC reviews about it being anti-drug. I dont think this film is anti-drug...it draws no conclusions at the end. To me this film while being an emotionally searing film, is in a way, apathetic in its portayals of the major characters..It shows you their lives, and how they lead them, no more. The film is not meant to be a cautionary tale, or blaze the path of salvation for someone else...its just s story...a nightmarish, hellish bedtime story, whose unifying theme happens to be people on drugs. AS for the performances, all the major characters shine..Aranofsky really got the best out of them. Most notable was Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb; simply put, the woman was ROBBED this year at the Oscars by old horse-mouth herself. As for the rest of the cast..to me, they all put in career-defining performances...my heart was not failed to be broken by ALL the characters in this movie. In fact, that is what the experince of watching this film is like..it breaks your heart over and over and over again, but not in any cheesy or obviously sentimental way..but graphically, brutally and shockingly.., it totally goes for the jugular and will not let go. At the end of the movie...all the major characters end up huddled in the fetal position...which is exactly what I wanted to do after watching this movie. Great flick...if u dare.....- A.N. Oh, and P.S....if its not the director's cut version, dont bother...u wont get as much from the ending without it.
Rating:
Summary: it's not about the drugs...
Review: Yes, this is a movie about addiction. No, this is not a movie about substance abuse. Internalize this distinction before you watch it, or write a review about it. Aronofsky isn't moralizing about the perils of smack; he's commenting on the industries, legal and otherwise, that thrive by promising dreams they can't deliver, and on the eventual collapse of lives built around those promises. This is not "drugs are bad, mmmkay?"; it is something far deeper and broader, and to pan it -- or praise it -- as anti-drug propaganda is to miss the point entirely. See this movie. It will hit you like a kick in the stomach, but it will make you a better person.
Rating: 
Summary: overly declarative and simplistic short, extended to feature
Review: This would have been a ground-breaking short film of 15 minutes length. Instead, the filmmakers extend the themes crafted early in the film through the most declarative parallel montage of all time, hitting the viewer over the head: these characters are all suffering/addicted, etc. The film cuts back and forth between the son and the mother for nearly an hour, when 5 minutes of it would have been fine. Nothing new happens in the film after the mid-point.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome movie...
Review: ...nuff said...
Rating:
Summary: too brilliant for words
Review: This film is one of THE BEST films I have seen in my life. It is completely mesmerizing, to the point where you lose your self in it, and at the end you feel nothing less than complete shock. Requiem for a Dream involves you like very few other films do. Completely mind-blowing, amazingly acted, totally real.
Rating:
Summary: Still recovering...
Review: I saw this movie twice. Once in the theatre and more recently on DVD. The first time I saw it I had high expectations because of all the film buffs that highly recommended it to me. I thought it was a bit slow moving the first time I saw it, but once I walked out of the theatre, I was deeply moved. In order for a movie to be good, I need to walk out of the theatre in amazement--amazement in the acting and amazement in the plot. Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto were both excellent in this movie. Burstyn played Leto's mother, Sara Goldfarb, so unbelievably well. She was a pathetic, sad, old, self-pitying woman who became addicted to diet pills and eventually went crazy. Leto, who played Harry, eventually had his arm amputated because of a growing infection from heroin injections, and Jennifer Connelly, who played Marion Silver, humiliated herself by succumbing to acts of sexual violence in exchange for heroin. This movie does not glamourize heroin use. It truly makes you think about it's fatal consequences.
Rating:
Summary: Is This Film Really About Drug Addiction?
Review: Most of the reviews here have focused on this film's being about a harrowing descent of 4 different, related characters into the nightmare world of drug addiction. It can be read on that level. I believe there is also another interpretation. These characters' lives were empty, hopeless, rootless and without any dreams or goals before they took the first drug. They took the drugs to get out of that state. But because hopes, dreams and goals must come from inside oneself, not outside, the drugs don't work. Since they have nothing else in their lives though, they do nothing to break the addiction. I see this as a movie that mourns characters who have no dreams and hence the title, "Requiem For A Dream." Much has been made of Ellen Burstyn's performance in this film and it is truly formidable. I was not surprised by this, however, since I have been a fan of hers since the '70s and have watched her in knock em dead performances decade after decade. "Resurrection," one of her very best films, I've seen countless times. There is another huge talent on this film, equal to Burstyn's, and that is writer-director Darren Aronofsky. He adapted the novel for the screen along with its novelist, Hubert Selby. This is film making talent of the highest order. Aronofsky puts you into the shoes of the characters, moment by moment, and you are in hell with them instead of being just a passive, voyeuristic bystander. It is an incredible accomplishment. Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, and Jennifer Connelly are also able to display their acting chops, as the other 3 addicts, and they each have a lot more talent than I previously imagined.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Tragic
Review: When I heard my friends talking about this movie I knew I had to see it. Having seen the directors previous movie, Pi, I expected a great movie! Without fail I got what i payed for! An intense, gripping, tragic and insightfull movie that brings 4 people to the brink of their own mortality. Do yourself a favor and check this movie out!
|
