Requeium for a Dream movie

[WWJD]

I bought the REQ DREAM movie for $5 last week. Before opening it, I did a little more reseach, then promptly returned it for a refund. It was not what I was thinking it was. My bad. STILL, I gotta ask why a movie like this is SO HIGHLY accredited by people? It appears to be a snapshot of life for a bunch of drug users, and how bad their life really is. Very graphic, very honest, very disturbing.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a few realistic portrayals in movies, but the content of this one just sounded like a ride to H3LL in a direction I have worked most of my life to PURPOSELY AVOID. How does this end up as entertainment? I have enjoyed some of Aronofsky's other movies, but I didn't even bother to watch this one.

One review on IMDB.com said "This movie saved my life. I recognized myself in this movie and would have ended up dead. It made me quit all my drugs immeidately after watching it and life has been way better ever since..." So I guess if that works, that is great for them.

Anyone else see this movie? I guess I won't be seeing it now. Kinda bummed because I like to keep an open mind. But SOMETHING told me to run from this flick. Feedback?

 

[bowwow]

I've seen it. I didn't like it. My wife did.

 

[HRHDi]

Entertainment means different things to different people. Personally, I don't see how a video games like the Grand Theft Auto series can be considered entertainment, but they've made millions.

But my favorite movies include Dodgeball, Amadeus, Pulp Fiction and Silence of the Lambs - so what do I know?

 

[skoti]

I saw it but had a hard time paying attention to it... If you don't like trainwrecks it's probably not for you. All I remember from it was a long downward spiral, but for some reason I was bored. I did enjoy the soundtrack though...

 

[WWJD]

yeah, I'm not even going to try cuz downward spiralling trainwrecks don't thrill me. just wondered if someone liked it, what they go tout of it?

I REALLY enjoy AMERICAN BEAUTY - which is also sort of an "American lifestyle trainwreck" movie, but it resolves wonderfully but it's not so disturbing in the end

 

[CrashBomb]

So you bought a Darren Aronofsky film and then returned it without watching it because it was too depressing? Did you not see Pi, or did you just not notice his name on the jacket? What work of his you see of his that you liked, Below? What did you find offensive about Requiem, the drug use? Have you seen Spun or The Salton Sea? How about City By The Sea or Trainspotting? Psychologically, I thought Pi: Faith in Chaos was FAR more "disturbing" than Requiem.

Aronofsky doesn't make the kind of "feel good" movies that America is obsessed with. He takes risks that very few directors and writers are willing to take and he doesn't let box office gross determine the scope and thrust of his films. He's raised some enormous issues with his previous films; he's made us question things like life, belief, addiction, humanity, faith, and death. At their innermost core, his films almost always illustrate a kind of symbolic death that leaves the protagonists traumatized and battered because they followed their passions instead of listening to the little intellectual voice that whispered "bad idea" in their ear. I think we can all relate to that. At the end of his films we're always left with characters trying to reconcile a fundamental break in their lives, and it's that cathartic moment that is the essence of what tragedy is in a very Shakespearian sense. His films are also visually stunning and there are very few post-Hitchcock directors that have been able to successfully do the kinds of things that he does within his frames.

My advice: for five bucks, go buy the thing again and watch it. It's only five dollars, you'd spend more at Burger King, and Requiem isn't anywhere near as disturbing as most fast food joints. Yes, it's disturbing, that's the idea. You won't "enjoy" it, you're not supposed to. Darren doesn't often write or direct the kind of movies that you walk out of the theater thinking "that was fun."

 

[WWJD]

I liked Pi. It's been a while, but I'd probably watch it again. Was it depressing? I can't recall. Maybe I missed the whole point of it and didn't realize it.

I'd watch it again I suppose. And I REALLY enjoyed The Fountain too. Something tells me to stay away from a movie, I stay away. "soul poisen" and all that, you are what you eat. It looked intriguing, but some things I'd simply prefer not to watch.

As far as deep message, I can totally appriciate that too. I just wish there were more deep movies that glorifed the POSITIVE sides to life, as opposed to the negative sides. If someone could make a deep, interesting, artistic, beautiful movie that made us question why we accept the NEGATIVE as "normal", how to break out of that box, and embrace the positive, the same way negative movies work but opposite, I'd be on board.

I suppose I am getting more and more sensative to what I feed my psyche these days. Experiencing someone else's bad decisions in life audibly and visually is not my idea of a good time now.

Artistiaclly, it LOOKS great.... which was my initial draw. I just don't think the content is for me

 

[CrashBomb]

I liked Pi. It's been a while, but I'd probably watch it again. Was it depressing? I can't recall.

I'm not sure I'd call Pi depressing as such, it definitely wasn't a happy joyous feel good movie though. Maybe "depressing" is the wrong word, more like disturbing in a "this is hard to watch," makes you feel uncomfortable kind of way. That movie was deliberately engineered, in many different ways, specifically to make the audience feel the same level of discomfort that Max (the central character) was feeling. The constantly ringing phone in the background, the trepanation scenes, the score, the grainy nature of the film stock, the unbalanced hand held camera work, every aspect of that film was designed to make you squirm in your seat as much as possible.

The reason there are very few "deep" yet "happy" movies is that the comedic mode doesn't lend itself to the catharsis that is necessary for the tragic form to exist. If the characters are all happy, focused on the good, and making the right choices there is no conflict; if there is no conflict there is no drama. Upbeat and positive stories are escapist while dark and depressing movies allow the writer to more deeply explore the human condition.

What I really want to know is what the hell anything by Darren Aronofsky is doing in the $5 bin. That's like finding Kurosawa in the three for ten basket at Sprawl-Mart. That's just insulting.

 

[Leo]

I found it interesting... I guess it helps you see and understand a dark side of humanity. I don't think that's a bad thing, if anything, it definitely make you appreciate your own situation (or in this case a lack there of...)

 

[WWJD]

I LOVE movies that succeed at putting you in the lead's feeling.... like Memento and such. Those are GREAT! There's a couple others but I can't recall the names.

The thing about REQ 4 DREAM in 5$ bin.... it was some kind of "Edited VERSION" I suppose it was less harsh.

I think a good positive movie could show some negative stuff as conflict and then show how the positive overcomes it... on a realistic level instead of some fake happy hollywood ending level. It's just that no one [or very few] have succeeded in that yet. Doesnt even have to be a comedy - rather, SHOULD NOT be a comedy, just real and showing the positives of being positive.

Oh well. Great feedback on this movie. I kinda feel cheated having not watched it, but I know there are some things I should simply avoid for me

 

[Big Wall]

I originally saw Requiem for a Dream on the IFC channel. My wife just bought it for $5 as well. It definately doesn't glorify drug use. If anything, it's point is that the road to damnation is traveled one step at a time. Legally or illegally. The old lady in the movie got hooked on drugs prescribed by her doctor.

 

[Aen]

I saw it and didn't like it. The ending just shows what happens to the characters when they hit rock bottom. The counselor in me knew there was more, and I need closure.

 

[CrashBomb]

Ah, the edited version. I think I can imagine what they cut, that would make it slightly less offensive to some people.

Oh well, I still think you're selling yourself short by not seeing it, but everyone's taste is different and there isn't any director that can speak to everyone in every audience. I guess my cinematic preferences run more towards the dark and brooding than most people. My DVD collection is full of things like very early Bergman, dark Fellini, violent Sergio Leone, and tragic Coppola. I don't own anything that anyone else would even vaguely consider "happy." Looking at my movie shelf, the few comedies I do have are very dark, even macabre, humor.