From Darren Aronofsky, the twisted bastard who brought you the movie Pi, comes an absolutely depressing and horrific mess called Requiem for a Dream. Pi was visually interesting, entertaining, and kept me wondering what was going on,and I went into Requiem with these same expectations. However, the movie continually raised two questions:

How much worse can it get?

How much longer can it go on?

I am not saying this to be funny. I am saying this because it is true. I wasn’t sure what the movie was trying to tell people, so I made a list of the possible messages the movie could hold:

• following your dreams to excess is bad
• following your dreams is bad
• dreams are bad
• the American pharmaceutical industry is no different than the American street-gang drug industry
• drugs are bad
• drugs are bad because they can wreck your dreams
• drugs are bad because they can make you create a movie like ‘Requiem for a Dream’

The movie might actually not have had any message at all, which would truly suck. The effects, editing and time lapses are good (much like Pi or Spun, or Memento) and the movie gives a good sense of ‘trippiness’ without being ridiculous.

It might be useful to teach High School students that “Drugs are Not Cool.” Or, if you thought your life sucked, you could watch this movie and not feel so bad about it. But it will be a true test of your willpower to see how far down the spiral of depression you are willing to ride.

Blog on,
-CZ

Posted in Movies, Review