Requiem for a Dream Review (2000)

	Requiem for a Dream
Year:	2000
Director:	Darren Aronofsky
Stars:	Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Keith David, Louise Lasser, Mark Margolis
Genre:	Drama
Rating:	6 (from 5 votes)
Review:	The story of four people's descent in to utter degradation because of their drug addiction. Wanting to get thin for an upcoming TV gameshow appearance, a mother (Ellen Burstyn) becomes hooked on diet pills. Her son, his girlfriend and his best friend plan to make their fortune selling heroin, but become addicts themselves. Based on Hubert Selby's novel, Darren Aaronofsky's second film is an audacious, flashy piece of work which is undeniably impressive. But plotwise it contains no surprises - it suffers from all the usual clichés of the drug movie and you can pretty much guess what will happen after the first ten minutes. All that's missing is a lengthy cold turkey sequence. While blatantly a director's film (an editor's film, even), it's fortunate that the acting comes across so strongly, especially from Ellen Burstyn who is very moving as the lonely widow. It's her story that affects you the most, particularly in the scene where she turns up at the TV studio, now reduced to a bewildered wreck. So, if it's another cheap holiday in other people's misery you're after, this comes highly recommended. Music by Clint Mansell.
Reviewer:	Graeme Clark
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Darren Aronofsky (1969 - )

American writer and director, whose low budget science fiction film Pi was much praised. He followed it with Requiem for a Dream, an equally intense drug addiction story, with the long-awaited but unsuccessful sci-fi epic The Fountain arriving in 2006. Downbeat drama The Wrestler was Oscar-nominated, suggesting he was fulfilling his early promise, and Natalie Portman won an Oscar for his ballet horror Black Swan. His eccentric Biblical epic Noah met with a mixed reaction to say the least, though that was nothing compared to mother!, his other Bible pic.

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