Harry Goldfarb - Jared Leto
Sara Goldfarb - Ellen Burstyn
Marion Silver - Jennifer Connelly
Tyrone C. Love - Marlon Wayans
directed by Darren Aronofsky
my rating: A
“When we chase our dreams and live in the future, we create this hole in our present, and we use anything to fill that vacuum: TV, sex, tobacco, drugs, hope – they’re all there just to fill the hole.”– Darren Aronofsky.
Darren Aronofsky has the potential of becoming one of the most influential modern film directors. Like all great artists, not everyone will appreciate Aronofsky's art, because it takes time to be accepted by the mainstream audience. In his newest movie, Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky portrays the feeling and despair of 4 souls that became ravaged by the power of addiction. In Aronofsky portrayal of Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel, he not only makes us see these 4 characters downfalls, but makes the viewers experience their few highs and their many depressing lows. As I watched this movie, I was not only shocked, but scared.
The story is beautifully told through 3 seasons: summer (hope), fall (beginning of the end), and winter (cold and dark). Requiem for a Dream is the story of 4 characters that are obsessed by glamour, success, money, etc. While they become preoccupied with the future, they slowly become addicted to drugs. Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), his girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) wanted to start a drug business for the money. As they see their lives slowly becoming better, addiction catches up to them. Meanwhile, Harry's mother Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), after receiving a call that she will appear on her favorite TV game show, dangerously starts to lose weight to fit in her red dress. She starts becoming addicted to diet pills.
All of the performances were very good, but Ellen Burstyn easily steals the show. In her portrayal of Sara Goldfarb, she becomes increasingly obsessed by her TV, because it fills the void of her loneliness. The game show repeatedly shows the words "You are a winner!”. These words gives hope to her character. After she received the phone call from the game show, she starts taking diet pills to feel popular. Quickly, she starts hallucinating that her refrigerator is attacking her.
Another very important aspect that drives this movie is the music. Kronos Quartet wrote the angry, brutal violin score, which hypnotically brings you into the story. After buying the CD, the music has brought me back into the character’s world. This is the first movie in such a long time in which the music plays a vital role in telling a story.
This movie is not for everyone. With its NC-17 rating, Requiem for a Dream realistically portrays addiction. It is brutally honest and the last 30 minutes of the movie was extremely intense. I still highly recommend this movie to the adult crowd. Enter the theater with an open-mind and you will see the future of modern filmmaking.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.