Requiem for a Dream (2000) Review - Dylan McCully

Written by Dylan McCully, 10/15/22

Dylan McCully's Cinema: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls521125877/

It's hard to keep up with the frantic fast pace and depressing nature of Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky's legendary sophomore non-slump. A nonstop pace mixed with an impressive screenplay mixed with realistic portrayals of drug abuse makes for an important and memorable film.

The opening scene establishes some of the important relationships and the nature of the film. Sara Goldfarb, played by Ellen Burstyn lives alone watching television. Her son Harry (played by Jared Leto) along with his girlfriend Marion (played by Jennifer Connelly) and Tyrone (played by Marlon Wayans) all use and deal heroin. The quick paced graphic cuts when a character uses drugs are stylistically flashy but also establish the true nature of heroin. It is only a quick high, but the lows are much more painful and drawn out. Personally, I prefer the old school style of filmmaking, which includes longer takes/less cuts, but on first watch the pace of this film will blow anyones mind. Sara gets called for a chance to her favorite game show, and wants to fit into an old red dress, so she gets amphetamines from her doctor to control her diet. Other stylistic flourishes include the timelapse montages, fast paced split screen scenes and jump cuts. These are purposeful sensoric overloads which greatly help establish the tone of the film. Meanwhile, Tyrone gets wrapped up in the middle of a shoot out, and is arrested. Harry uses all the money they made to get him out of jail, so they are back to square one. Harry convinces Marion to go into prostitution for money, which they get in a fight about. I won't spoil the rest of the film, but it certainly doesn't get any better.

My favorite scenes in the film are Sara's downward spiral into addiction and psychcosis. Ellen Burstyn's performance stands out as the best even among other fantastic performances. The lenses used during these scenes also ramps up the intensity. A flaw I have with the film are some of the lighting choices, which date the film a little bit. There is also a lack of subtlety in Aronofsky's films, that move him down in the all time director rankings. We'll see this with Mother especially, but a lot of times his movies give you something to react to instead of something to think about. The unbridled relentlessness of drug abuse takes no prisoners. There are moments in the film where you think everything will be okay, but just as the high from a dose of heroin falls, so do your hopes. 7/10

Darren Aronofsky Ranking: 1. Requiem For A Dream (2000) - 7/10 2. Pi (1998) - 5.5/10