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intereact!Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, Keith David, Louise Lasser, and Christopher McDonald
Rated: Unrated
Retail Price (not our price): $14.98
Release Date: 2001-08-14
Theatrical Release Date: 2000-10-27
Studio: Artisan
Run Time: 102 minutes
Format: Array
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Discs: 1
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
Employing shock techniques and sound design in a relentless sensory assault, Requiem for a Dream is about nothing less than the systematic destruction of hope. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., and adapted by Selby and director Darren Aronofsky, this is undoubtedly one of the most effective films ever made about the experience of drug addiction (both euphoric and nightmarish), and few would deny that Aronofsky, in following his breakthrough film Pi, has pushed the medium to a disturbing extreme, thrusting conventional narrative into a panic zone of traumatized psyches and bodies pushed to the furthest boundaries of chemical tolerance. It's too easy to call this a cautionary tale; it's a guided tour through hell, with Aronofsky as our bold and ruthless host. The film focuses on a quartet of doomed souls, but it's Ellen Burstyn--in a raw and bravely triumphant performance--who most desperately embodies the downward spiral of drug abuse. As lonely widow Sara Goldfarb, she invests all of her dreams in an absurd self-help TV game show, jolting her bloodstream with diet pills and coffee while her son Harry (Jared Leto) shoots heroin with his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) and slumming girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly). They're careening toward madness at varying speeds, and Aronofsky tracks this gloomy process by endlessly repeating the imagery of their deadly routines. Tormented by her dietary regime, Sara even imagines a carnivorous refrigerator in one of the film's most memorable scenes. And yet... does any of this have a point? Is Aronofsky telling us anything that any sane person doesn't already know? Requiem for a Dream is a noteworthy film, but watching it twice would qualify as masochistic behavior. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
1) Weird movie [Rating: 3 out of 5]
This movie is very odd - too many different stories going on at one time. It does show the harness of using drugs though.2) Requiem For A Bummer!!!!! [Rating: 1 out of 5]
I can't see what the big stink is about this flick.It stink, stank, stunk!I have never been depressed in all my 44 years. In fact, I didn't even know what people were experiencing who took anti-depressants, but after I saw this movie, I not only understood depression, but I understood suicide as well. I simply don't see what the point is. We ALL know that drugs are bad for you, why would anyone want to watch 2 hours of people going down the drain, when all you've got to do is turn on the evening news for 2 minutes?After Pi, a very strange but captivating movie in its own right, I had big expectations for this one, but no, no, no, no, no!This is a huge pile of garbage, don't waste your time, your money, or your sanity!3) Disturbing [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This is one hell of a movie. It simply leaves you dumb-folded after its depressing ending. The performances are outstanding, the script is very well written. You're dragged into the movie's underworld and it's hard to forget it. Everybody should see this movie.4) Grrrrreat!!! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I first saw this movie back in 2000, just after its release... I felt so good by paying my ticket for such a great film. Its hard to see good movies nowadays or be satisfied or happy after watching a movie in theaters, its almost always the same garbage over and over again... Now after seven years, I can still saying the same thing, there're quite few films (at least that I've seen) with such a great power and emotion transmited.This one -for me- its a must buy.5) Dark and unsettling yet richly rewarding... [Rating: 5 out of 5]
If ever there was a movie that exposed drug addiction for the horror that it truly is, this is that film. `Requiem for a Dream' is understandably a very hard film to watch. Everything from its intense subject matter to its sporadic and chaotic direction is set to either draw you in or push you away. I don't think there can be an in between for this film. You either love it wholeheartedly or you loathe it and consider it a waste of time. It's a film that will leave you feeling dirty, feeling depressed and maybe even feeling bad about yourself but I feel that in the right context these are all good feelings for us to have because they force us to consider things we may never make the time to consider. Drug addiction is painted in most films as devastating but beatable, something that can ruin lives but can be overcome. In so many movies today we watch our main character suffer at the hands of his addiction only to watch him rise above and overcome the adversary, turning over a new leaf and moving forward on a new path. If that is what you are expecting to see then be forewarned, there are no happy endings to be found in `Requiem...'. In fact, `Requiem for a Dream' paints this picture so harshly, so unsympathetically one is forced to realize that not all addictions are beatable. Sometimes, well, most of the time there is no coming back. The reason I feel that `Requiem for a Dream' is such an important film is because it shows the audience the ugly truth behind a very common and widespread problem. You won't walk away from this movie and think lightly of the occasional drug run. You won't think that there's nothing wrong with a high here or there. You will be repulsed by the very idea of a manufactured euphoria and will cringe at the thought of ending up like any of the characters portrayed in this film. This film is designed to prevent drug abuse.The film follows the lives of four individuals all connected to one another. You have Sara Goldfarb, an elderly lady who lives really for nothing except the off chance that she could be on television. She watches her game shows and thinks of nothing else. Her son Harry is so dependant of drugs that he's willing to steal his mother's belongings to get the money for a high. His best friend Tyrone is just as guilty and his girlfriend Marion is along for the ride. The film follows each of their addictions (Sara becomes addicted to diet pills in an attempt to lose enough weight to fit in a dress she's determined to wear on television) and fleshes out the pain, degradation and hopelessness each addiction leaves it's host in. What helps propel this film along is the stellar performances by the entire cast, most notably its two leading ladies. Ellen Burstyn rightfully was awarded a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars for her brilliant portrayal of Sara. She really gets inside this woman and makes her delusions so real to the audience. She takes something that could have, in the wrong hands, gone camp or been comical and makes it so raw and emotionally stimulating. Her pain is essentially our pain and this makes the film so much more real to us. Jennifer Connelly is flawlessly stunning as Marion Silver. Her character has such a subtle yet moving arch towards the closing of the film when we watch her desperation grow to the point of no return. It's heartbreaking but also extremely realistic. Jared Leto is also remarkable here. He has a lot of misses as an actor but when he hits it he hits it out of the park. His portrayal of Harry is emotional and resilient. Marlon Wayans blew me away. I didn't know he had this in him, but he succeeds with flying colors at making his character real and moving. I still can't get over this performance, so utterly unexpected.A lot has been said for Aronofsky's visionary style. I'm going to say a little bit now. His direction of this film is a perfect compliment to the subject and depiction he was going for. The chaotic editing helps keep the audience in the right frame of mind, further embellishing the mental state of our protagonists. As we watch the screen shift back and forth violently with each depiction of drug intake we get the sense that this is really destroying the characters from the inside out. Aronofsky expressed brilliant judgment in his decisions while making this film.So, like I mentioned earlier, this is not a film for everyone. It is brutal in many ways and very hard to watch both emotionally and visually if you are not prepared for it. If you can sit through this masterpiece though I highly recommend it because it's a film unlike any other and one that we all should take notice of.