Requiem for a Dream

Duncan Gray

This is what we thought art was back in high school: a really heavy subject matter, expressed with total technocratic control. Granted, the technocracy of it is impossible to resist: this is one of the best shot/edited movies of its day. Parts are truly stomach-churning, for whatever that's worth. But the core is hysterically, pornographically thin. As for profound truth, it's no match for a good screwball comedy.

Lights in the Dusk

The moralising here is blunt & simple-minded, the melodrama gratuitous & unearned & the wallowing in human misery at odds with its holier-than-thou intentions. However, looking at the film almost 20 years later, it's remarkable to think young filmmakers were this adventurous with cinematic form. Split screens, jump-cuts, fish-eye lenses, all used to assault the senses. There's nothing like this being produced today.

Nicholas Gregory

A marvel of technique undermined by that very same design. The drugged-up directing may put you in the mind of its characters, but on the other hand just feels overindulgent and is used to distract from a ho-hum and simplistic narrative. Furthermore, the climatic montage may be a brilliant work of editing technique, but like the rest of the film, it's not as heart-wrenching as it could be due to this superficiality.

Timothy Stevano

That drug horor final moments are scary, sad, and disturbing. Now I understand why my parents always says: "Stay out from the drugs Tim, stay out from the drugs, or you will be fucked-up forever like uncle Jarkasi."

galuh indri

“It’s a reason to get up in the morning. It’s a reason to lose weight, to fit in the red dress. It’s a reason to smile. It makes tomorrow all right. I like the way I feel. I like thinking about the red dress and the television. Now when I get the sun, I smile.” -Sara Goldfarb

Zachary T.

It’s a little reductive to deride this as “preachy.” The film expends significant effort with Burstyn's character (her excellence here goes beyond words) to explore the many accepted addictions hiding in plain sight, and always sympathetically; these are just lost people trying to escape. Troubled youth or reputable senior, daytime TV or heroin, the rabbit holes all lead to the same dark and desperate eventuality.

KAIJA EIGHTY

didn't live up to all that hype people swamp it with. this is partially to blame. but all though it was kind of interesting. i didn't strike me as memorable. just another overdramatised drugs are bad mmmkaay movie.

Matt Burgess

Since I adore anti-drug/alcohol advertisements for their blatant manipulation, hysterical heavy handedness and eagerness to wallow in the very filth they condemn, this was like a dream come true for me. An exquisitely filmed after school special. ASS TO ASS! ASS TO ASS!