Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Requiem for a Dream


The film depicts different forms of addiction, leading to the characters’ imprisonment in a dream world of delusion and reckless desperation that is subsequently overtaken and devastated by reality.
~Roger Ebert

The trailer, while cool, tells you little about the movie.

Two days ago we watched it for the first time, it was on a movie channel, and we missed the first 10 minutes, but the rest of the movie was amazing. Today we just happened to open the netflix envelopes that had been sitting unopened for months (since we were just watching netflix on the XBOX 360) and were surprised to find Requiem for a Dream. Someone else must have told us to watch it. The movie was so powerful the first time, I almost didn't believe it was as good as it seemed. My wife popped it in to watch the first 10 minutes we missed, but we wound up watching the whole thing again.

I think it was better the second time.

The intensity of the movie was not dulled by knowing what to expect, nor was the emotional involvement muted by knowing the ultimate fate of the characters.

I'll have to watch it a few more times to be sure, but this might be my new favorite movie.

Watch it.

4 comments:

Stingray said...

I'll take your word for it. When LabRat and I tried to watch, we were so monumentally bored we couldn't even finish it. The whole thing seemed to be "Poor decision making skills on parade, film at 11."

Anonymous said...

I first saw this movie about 4 years ago. I bought the dvd and have watched it about 20 times since then. The movie is so intense I still feel just as disturbed now when the final credits roll as I did the first time I saw it.

Fletch said...

"Disturbed" I think is the word I was searching for.

The only other movie that I found more psychologically disturbing was OldBoy.

One of those movies where it ends, and no one in the room moves from their seat or says anything for a few minutes. You're just frozen.

Anonymous said...

Indeed. The first time I saw it, I sat there for ten minutes after the movie was over trying to filter through all the conflicting emotions. I still get chills every time I hear Lux Aeterna.