Requiem for a Dream

I watched it for the second or third time in my life this morning. And then I remembered just how incredibly well done it is.

Darren Aronofsky is a genius. Hands down. He’s got to be one of the best directors of all time. Why? Because he doesn’t need a serial killer or a monster or any amount of fiction in order to make his films horrific. Stomach-turning, wincing, cringing, “I can’t watch this” kind of scary. There doesn’t have to be an excess of violence or gore, because what he manages to do is take events that could actually happen in real life…and spotlight them.

As is the case in Requiem for a Dream. The main characters, Harry, Ty, Marion, and Harry’s mother all manage to get so caught up in something that they’re aiming for that they drown in the process. Figuratively, anyway. The three kids, Harry, Ty, and Marion, start out as simple drug users. Not necessarily junkies or addicts, but more almost “conversational users”, for lack of better terminology. Marion, who is dating Harry, expresses how she’s always wanted to start her own store showcasing her own fashion. So Harry talks to Ty about it, and they formulate a plan of funding the project by selling drugs. But what they don’t realize is, as they get deeper and deeper into the drug world, they’re becoming hooked. The problem is that they never recognize themselves as addicts until it’s too late. Until Harry’s got an infected arm from shooting up all the time and Ty’s in jail, having been caught when he took Harry to the hospital to get his arm checked out. Meanwhile, Marion’s at home, selling her body to pay the rent.

If you’ve got a weak stomach, don’t watch the film. Not because of gore, even; it’s just a hard thing to stomach. You’re sitting on the couch watching these kids doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Watching them completely and utterly ruin their lives in pursuit of a perfectly innocent cause.

The filming is incredible. The camera angles, the representation of drug use through a series of brief images and sound effects, and looped sounds in the background as well as a fantastic soundtrack. It’s most definitely in my top ten list of favourite films, up there with A Clockwork Orange and Gummo, both of which you should also see.

All I’ll say is, I never thought a movie could manage to instill fear of my own refrigerator in me. For serious, man.

Lesson learned: Never do drugs, kids. Never.