Reviews Literature / Requiem For A Dream

Not as Terrible as Haters Want to Believe, Not as Revolutionary or Nuanced as the Filmmakers Want You to Believe

I don't know what I was expecting when I finally peeled the DVD from its red Netflix envelope but I know what everyone around me was prepping me for. It's impossible to discuss certain films without discussing the expectations late-comers (such as I) have when we finally get around to viewing them and Requiem for a Dream qualifies as one of those for me. I was told only to expect its message to be blunt and that there would be no uplifting, inspirational ending. I was instead supposed to find only a soul-crushing agony awaiting me at this end of this movie. So evaluating those two claims...

The film's position regarding its subject matter is completely clear. What doesn't happen however is anyone outright saying "Drugs are bad — all drug usage will lead to this and this is beyond bad". So in terms of it's anvilciousness... I've seen worse. The closest anyone approaches is when Harry's character reproaches his mother for using diet pills to usurp her feelings of worthlessness and loneliness but then that's undermined immediately when he gets high directly upon leaving her home just so he can cope with what his mother's allowed herself to become. If anvilciousness can be negated by nuance, then I would consider that done because that scene to me immediately shows that the nature of addiction is so pervasive that even a character who is capable of recognizing the emotional crutch addiction has become for an another character cannot even recognize that in himself just mere moments later. So, like I said, there have been worse.

And as for its soul-crunch... fairly valid. The movie knows Sara's character constitutes the most pitiful victim and that's why it ends with her (and her actress does a damn fine job of making you desperately want to make her right again). As for the other characters... that's a little more give and take.

But one thing that absolutely must be mentioned before I get cut off - Clint Mansell's score is phenomenal. I'd never heard what (apparently) is a very famous composition (Lux Aeterna) from this film but the second it came on, I was in love with it. It's a great composition that really highlights the constant raising of stakes for the characters and the greater and greater peril they're in from their addiction.

So in summary, slightly over-wrought but still definitely worthwhile.