Requiem for a Dream

I really needed to comment about this movie. Never, ever see it. Not because it's bad, but because it is one of the most disturbing movies I've seen in a very long time. It's the story of four people who are all, in some manner, hooked on drugs of some kind. The film tells of their ultimate downfall as human beings and the way that their addictions destroy their lives. Hence the title Requiem for a Dream.

If I can say anything about this movie I will say that it has forever turned me off to ever trying drugs of any kind. The manner in which addiction is depicted here is so disturbing and so realistic that I just have no desire to ever even touch the stuff.

The movie is shot in a music video like manner with a lot of quick cuts and odd camera movements and while this would typically bother me I felt that it worked perfectly with the uneasy and dark mood that shrouded this film.

All of the performances were heartbreaking. Every single one. Even from Marlon Wayans who helped pen the atrocious films like Scary Movie and White Chicks. After days of thinking about the movie I realized that this film wouldn't have hit near as hard without the performances.

The movie at first seems like a typical, black and white "don't do drugs" movie, but it goes way deeper than that in a way that takes a lot of thought. To me, this movie is about the emptiness of humanity. Humans are empty and we try to fill this emptiness up with anything that gives us that temporary high. The characters in this movie turned to drugs. And in the end it destroyed every single one of them. Requiem for a dream...

I don't recommend this movie unless you can handle some pretty harsh and graphic scenes. I wont go into any details but it's some pretty gruesome stuff. It's not shock value for the sake of shock value though. Every graphic scene was necessary for the point this film was trying to make.

Naturally, there were some flaws, but the films hard punch was enough to compensate for those.

I will never forget this movie for as long as I live and one day I may revisit it. For now, however, the images are enough. This is one to remember.

And I'm so glad I have something to fill that void in myself.