Requiem for a Dream

Released 2000
Stars Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Louise Lasser, Keith David
Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Alcoholics or drug addicts feel wrong when they don't feel right. Eventually they feel very wrong, and must feel right, and at that point their lives spiral down into some sort of final chapter--recovery if they're lucky, hopelessness and death if they're not. What is fascinating about "Requiem for a Dream," the new film by Darren Aronofsky, is how well he portrays the mental states of his addicts. When they use, a window opens briefly into a world where everything is right. Then it slides shut, and life reduces itself to a search for the money and drugs to open it again. Nothing else is remotely as interesting. Aronofsky brings a new urgency to the drug movie by trying to reproduce, through his subjective camera, how his characters feel, or want to feel, or fear to feel.

The movie was given the worthless NC-17 rating by the MPAA; rejecting it, Artisan Entertainment is asking theaters to enforce an adults-only policy. I can think of an exception: Anyone under 17 who is thinking of experimenting with drugs might want to see this movie, which plays like a travelogue of hell.

Summary by Roger Ebert

I don't understand drugs. I don't understand drugs. I don't understand drugs. I don't understand addicts, either. Here is a tale that is, to say the least, cautionary about drug use. It makes a parallel between drug addiction and addictions to television and sugar, and it argues that addiction in and of itself is the same regardless of the object of the addiction. Later all addictions here become hard-core drugs (heroin and amphetamines). There was so much I liked about this movie. I enjoyed the way the four characters' stories were intertwined with quick cuts, and I liked the way this reinforced the parallels in their harrowing journeys.

The one thing that I felt was weak was the ending. I liked the way it was edited, and the "feel" was correct. The thing I didn't like, however, was how far all four characters had fallen. I think it would have been more powerful and poignant if Sara (Burstyn) had recuperated and Harry (Leto) had not lost his arm. It was natural and expected for Marion (Connelly) to become a crank (heroin) whore. Maybe illegal narcotics should come with a warning sticker like cigarettes: "If you are female and get hooked on this stuff, you will be smoking black pipe before long." It makes no sense to me why women don't seek help before they become drug whores, but again I don't understand drugs.

The DVD is loaded with extras. I didn't check out everything, but my two favorite extras were the last deleted scene and Ellen Burstyn interviewing Hubert Selby Jr., who wrote the book and the screenplay. I can see why the scene was deleted, because it was hilarious and would have broken the mood of the ending. I'm glad they included it on the DVD, though, because it's flippin' hilarious! Selby plays a prison guard who exhorts Tyrone (Wayans) to "work" the mashed potatoes. It feels very fresh and ad-libbed, although I'm sure much of it was scripted. Then I watched the interview, which was terribly interesting because Selby is so interesting. He has a sardonic sense of humor and is completely open and honest. He has the ability of a writer to lay himself bare and analyze himself without thought to ego. Check it out. -- Bill Alward May 31, 2001