Requiem for a Dream

[Trevor the rat]

will someone please tell me what is all the hype about this movie? i have yet to see it and i just wanted to know is it really THAT disturbing? or is it another disappointment like the exorcist?

[Will]

You thought The Exorcist was a disappointment?  Please explain that......

[Chris]

It depends on what disturbs you. If seeing four people's lives head into an utter downward spiral of despair and doom does, than I hope ya' enjoy the party!

[Mofo Rising]

Judging by the taste in movies you've exhibited on this board, I don't think you'll think much of it.

Most of the film, actually all of the film, is about four seperate characters chasing their dreams and one by one careening into inescapable downward spirals.  If you don't empathize with the characters, it's nothing.  If you do, it can be devestating.

HEAVY SPOILERS COMING ON:
But what is the point of this film?  What is the use of watching four people falling into the abyss?  There's no redemption.  No happy ending.  The characters don't evolve, except for the worse.

I liked it, but I enjoy plumbing the depths.  I grew up on Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, it's part of my makeup.  But what does it serve?

There's no real moral, although I've heard others say there is.  The anti-drug message so many people walk away with is not present in the film.  Just four people sinking deeper.

Is the film great?  I don't think so.  It is emotionally manipulative in the extreme.  But for what it is, it plays out perfectly.  People complain about the flashy cuts and extreme directorial style, but it's played from the drug-users perspective.  Things don't play off legit.

At any rate, the soundtrack is great.  I bought the CD.  Forget Nine Inch Nails, the final songs on this hold genuine animosity for the listener.

I think you should watch it Trevor.  I'd really like to hear your take on the movie.

[G.]

Requiem for a Dream is a tradgedy. Maybe not quite like Oedipus Rex, but definitly in the vein of Miller's Death of a Salesman. Everyone of the main cahracters has the tragic flaw of addiction, both to drugs, and to the possibility of a better future. Although I won't go through Aristotle's 6 points, I think it's not too difficult to see Requiem as a tradgedy.

Then we must ask "Why do people watch tradgedy?" There are two parts to this: morality and catharsis.

The morality aspects in tradgedy are very subtle and good writers keep them low-key. In Death of a Salesman for instance, there is a subtle anit-adultery messege buried in the end of the play. In Requiem the film is not trying to make an anti-drug statement, but an anti-addiction statement. Sara is addictied to TV long before the diet pills, Harry and Marion are addicted to each other and their futures, and Tyrone is addicted to the past and his mother. Arguably it is these addictions, not those to drugs, which cause their downfalls. So, if the movie has any messege to give, it is anti-addiction more than anything else.

The catharsis element is a little harder to understand. Why do people sit through Plan 9? Is it because it's so bad it's good? I think that the same kind of thinking underlines the catharsis people feel when wathcing a tradgedy. Picture Oedipus gouging his eyes out, or Willy Loman driving his car into oblivion. These aren't happy images, but yet when the shows over the audience feels better. That's how I felt after Requiem. I don't pretend to understand why, but that's just the way human psychology works.

Wow, I didn't think I had that much to say.

G.

[Chris]

You make great comments about the underlying structure of the film's meaning and i would have to agree with you that the film's story is more about addiction than drugs. Do we ever once hear the characters describe the names of the drugs they're are using, or anyone else?  Everybody has an addiction of some sort, this is one the themes explored in Requiem, kudos to Arinofsky and Libatique (the film's DP).

[Chris]

You make great comments about the underlying structure of the film's meaning and i would have to agree with you that the film's story is more about addiction than drugs. Do we ever once hear the characters describe the names of the drugs they're are using, or anyone else?  Everybody has an addiction of some sort, this is one the themes explored in Requiem, kudos to Arinofsky and Libatique (the film's DP).

[Trevor the rat]

first off you trying to offend me with that coment? i'm an artist and can pretty much find art in anythinga and i'm into prison movies, junkie movies, war cult movies, animated movies, b-movies, sex comedys, etc etc horror etc. so in other words you can keep your f**king mouth shut weather or not you were intentionally trying to insult me. i saw it and the great direction the flickering film in some seens the soundtrack the pase everything was great and i don't think it should be compared to trainspotting.


dan


p.s. i'll never be able to watch the labyrinth the same way again without picturing cute little jennifer connelly butt bumping a double dildo with a crack whore.

[Will]

Trevor's back.....hooray!

[El Chupacabra]

Touchy, aren't we...

What exactly was so bad about Trainspotting?

[Trevor the rat]

Jesus christ you people are always on my case i didn't say i hated trainspotting i just didn't find the similarity between the two movies and i didn't not like excorsist it just wasn't scary that's all so don't get your panties in a not.

[Mofo Rising]

Actually, Trevor, I was interested in what you thought of the movie.  Unfortunately you spent most of your post defending yourself against some perceived insult.

On the other hand, I do agree that the movie shouldn't be compared to TRAINSPOTTING.  The two movies have almost nothing do with each other, besides the drugs.

Has anybody seen the edited version they're hawking at Blockbuster.  If so, what did they cut out?