Feb 13, 2004 02:59 AM
2700 Views
(Updated Mar 02, 2004 02:48 PM)
Dark, Depressing, Sadistic.......these are the words which first come to mind while watching REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. But even though the movie is one of the darkest movies I have seen.....it is one of the best. If you are a person who loves to see movies that have a happy undertone and end on a high note...READ NO FURTHER.
The movie is Darren Afronsfy's follow up to the critically-acclaimed ''Pi'' based on the novel of the same name. I still have not seen ''pi'' but after seeing Requiem, I am definitely gonna try to get the dvd from somewhere. With ''requiem'', Afronsky has shown that he is not a one hit wonder and is vying to be the next David Lynch.
A warning first...this movie is not to everyones taste. The movie contains a few explicit scenes. It is a very true picture of what might happen if you take drugs.
The movie is about the lives of four individuals whose life takes a downward spiral after their experiences with excessive drug abuse. Sara Goldfarb is an old woman who is addicted to tv game shows. One fine day she gets a prank call saying tht she is going to be on a Tv game show. She then decides to lose 50 pounds to fit into an old dress she loves....and from then on, starts her experience with diet pills,speed and other drugs.
Her son, Harry, is a drug addict as well as a dealer along with his best friend Tyrone.
Harry's girlfriend Marion has also been taken into the fold of the druggies. Marion is budding artist who has given up her ''normal'' life with her parents to be with Harry.
Harry and Tyrone do great iniatially but everything starts to go downhill for them after their'' big'' catch. The manner in which their fortunes destert them is simply astounding.
More than the story itself, it is Afronsky's depiction of the story that kept me glued to the screen. The scenes which depict the drugs acting on the characters are done using a style of cinema which I have not seen before. The action of drugs is shown as a fast sequence of various actions of the drug and the characters with simply great sound-fx. The dilation of the pupils, the drugs acting up on the actor and finally the effect of the drug on the character are all shown in one sweeping motion.
The camera-work used in these scenes are really awesome....something that I have not seen in any other movie.
Ellen Burstyn does an amazing job portraying the innocent, sweet old Sara godfarb. I really felt very sorry for the woman whose life had taken such a catastrophic turn for the worse. Jennifer Connely shows that she is an actress willing to try out really different roles. All the actors do such a brilliant portrayal of being under the influence of drugs that I wonder whether they really did drugs to make it look real!!!!!!!!
Afronsky leaves no stone unturned in showing us how addicted his characters are to drugs. Everything moves slower when Sara is not on her pills....she needs her pills to feel normal. In one particular scene.... Harry is shown crying over the situation he finds himself.
Two seconds later, he is shown contented,happy....after he has doped to forget about his problems. Shots like these help us to get into the minds of the characters though we have never done drugs, to understand why they are doing something so uncomprehendable.
The movies uses three seasons-Summer, fall, winter to show the present situation that the characters find themselves in.
Summer-when everything is going great guns.
Fall-when things start to go wrong.
Winter-when everything that could have gone wrong has and they have reached rock-bottom.
The music and sound fx also deserve a special mention. The title song is great and sets a great platform for the movie to take off. The main title song plays throughout the movie in stages. The sound fx are also great and really outstanding in a couple of scenes.
The finale of the film is one of THE most amazing endings that I have ever seen. The manner in which each character is shown at the end of their journey is really........well....it left me speechless. The fact that such a dark ending left me more awe-struck than depressed is a credit to the director. Anyone thinking of experimenting with drugs should see this movie first to get and idea of the pain that they will go through.
The film carries a very simple message.... if you are gonna do drugs, there is only way way to go....DOWN.
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Harry Goldfarb: Jared Leto
Sara Goldfarb: Ellen Burstyn
Marion Silver: Jennifer Connelly
Tyrone C. Love: Marlon Wayans
