Requiem for a Dream Review

After watching Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream I have trouble finding the words to describe response to what I just saw. Despite the fact that the film as a whole is a brilliant piece of emotional, spectacularly crafted filmmaking it's the last 15 mins of the movie that tumble around my head as I begin to write this, burdened by a crushing sense of existential dread and depression that the film's final shot has had the cruel courtesy to leave me with.

The film, in case you're unaware, could be described as "bizarro Trainspotting" in as much as they're both anti-drug films that dissuade substance abuse by showing just how ugly, rotten and pathetic the life of a drug addict is. However, where as Trainspotting used its set up to tell a dark comedy that ultimately encouraged its viewers that they can escape a life of crippling addiction if they're willing, Requiem has no such positivity. In fact, the film seems to intentionally be doing everything in its power to not only keep positivity as far away from it as possible, but to intentionally tease the audience with optimism only to mercilessly crush it into submission.

The setup centers around the lives of four drug addicts: a heroin addict (Jared Leto), his junkie girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly), his best friend (Marlon Wayans) and his mother (Ellen Burstyn) and the entire movie is the audience basically observing how pathetic, demeaning, horrifying and ultimately tragic the life of a drug addict is.

What makes this film more intense and ultimately more engaging than Trainspotting is just how good Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique and the editing team are at filming from differing perspectives. This is evident from the very first shot of the film, where a split screen shows the different perspectives of Leto and Burstyn. the camera moves in different ways depending on whose perspective the camera is taking on. This happens a lot throughout the film and it helps you step into the disturbed, broken and depressed minds of the the protagonists, which makes the entire oppressive ride one hell of an experience. You're along for every intense emotion, every drug trip, every withdrawal, every demeaning, desperate act they'll perform to get their fix and it all rocks you to the core.

I keep coming back to how unbelievably effecting the film is and how efficient it is at emotionally kneecapping the audience mainly because above all the technical wizardry what really stays with you is just how mean spirited and hopeless the whole thing is. If you go into this film thinking you'll get another Trainspotting style message about how you can overcome addiction then you're more than likely going to get hit by the gut punch ending a lot harder than you might have otherwise. Hell, even if you do know what you're in for by the end of the film you still won't be prepared for how effectively it violates you down to your core.

This is absolutely not a film meant to be enjoyed, but I find myself unable to say that it shouldn't be experienced. It's an emotional experience unlike any other you're likely to get, it's a marvelous feat of technical filmmaking and an ok anti-drug film, even if I feel like the message gets ultimately lost in all the grotesqueness.

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