Requiem for a Dream 2000

"Juice by Sarah, juice by Sarah, juice by Sarah oh, Sarah's got juice."

"Requiem for a Dream" is an electrically charged hour and a half full of stunning visuals, captivating story, and innovative film making techniques. The film attempts to make the viewers feel that they too are experiencing these drugs along with the characters. At times it works wonderfully, at times it fails, but it is always interesting and unique.

The entire world of the film is distorted. The colors are off or sometimes just plain wrong. The noises are not quite right, at times too loud, at times too quiet, and at times just the wrong sound. And the relationships suffer from a certain disconnect felt not only through the characters themselves but through the filming techniques as well. At times, two characters having a conversation next to each other are split into two seperate screens to visually represent the gap between them. All of these factors add up to make the viewer feel an underlying sense of discomfort the entire time. This sense of discomfort becomes heightened as the film goes on and the word begins to shift into the blatantly surreal.

This film has one of the best arc's I have ever seen. It begins with a simple domestic dispute and ends with lives being absolutely ripped apart and shattered and the viewer feels every second of it. Apart from the film making techniques, the music helps to fuel this on tremendously. The main theme is immediately recognizable and has been used in everything from commercials to sports videos over the years which proves its staying power. It too is a mix of the familiar with the string instruments and the bizarre with the added vocal tracks and odd sound effects. This tells the viewer from the beginning that noting in this world is right and it will probably not change over the course of the film.

All of the acting was really spot on and produced some of the biggest snubs in Academy award history. The actors really bought into their roles and while many of them went through a great physical transformation throughout the film, you could see the internal changes that happened almost etched into the lines of their face.

If there were to be a top ten list of movies that did not end well, "Requiem for a Dream" would probably be pretty high up. The film makers had a very clear message and they made sure that the audience was told over and over again. Overall, I think that this film worked and I always enjoy when people take a risk and try something new even if I don't enjoy every little technique they use.

9/10