It's a good thing that I
haven't filled out the survey for the best stuff of the year yet,
because now I can honestly say I can add this film to it. I must admit
I was worried that this film would be too MTV-generation, but the quick
camera shots, center stage sound fx / score, and creative photography
made this film all the bit more intense and entertaining. Ellen
Burnstyn's role of the television slaved mother turned speed addict was
a performance actors dreams are made of. Her character's physical and
emotional transformation from start to finish of the film was
absolutely intense. Jared Leto's role as her son was excellent as well,
along with his strung out girlfriend and best friend, played by
Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans, respectively. The film was bold in
its portrayal of these four main characters and how their lives were
ruined over the course of three seasons by compulsion and drugs. It was
unsettling, uneasy, yet I couldn't remove my eyes from the screen. It
was impossible as every single second, every image on the screen would
make for a perfect picture. In no way is there a happy ending,
everything is destroyed, everybody loses. It's most definitely more of
an anti-drug propaganda film than Trainspotting. A requiem is more or
less a song for a funeral, and "Requiem for a Dream" was truly a
thrilling modern nightmare.
