Requiem for a dream

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Has anyone else seen this movie? I saw it for the first time on Monday and I think it was a pretty good movie. I found out that the lead actress was nominated for best actress, but Julia Roberts won it for her role in Erin Brokovich. I couldn't disagree with that decision any more than I do right now. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but I don't see how the lead actress was beaten out. On a side note, I found her story quite compelling because it was something that I could identify, especially having just finished watching RAW (or parts of it). Think of Billy Graham or the Dynamite Kid while you watch the movie.

[Guest DVD Spree]

And to think, I only wanted to see it for the Jennifer Connelly full frontal...

[Guest godthedog]

*spoilers*

 

i really liked it, one of the best of 2000 (although that really isn't saying much).  i actually thought the jennifer connely subplot was pretty lame because a) it played to the female/whore stereotype instead of, you know, creating a 3-dimensional character, and b) compared to the other subplots, her fate didn't seem all that bad.  jared leto gets his arm amputated, marlon wayans is in prison, ellen burstyn is catatonic, and jennifer connely has to have ass-to-ass sex?  how is that as bad as the former 3?

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, you could always put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel if you had to have ass to ass sex with a man in front of a bunch of cheering people just so that you could feed your addiction?

 

I think Ellen Burstyn was superior to Julia Roberts.

[Guest]

I loved it. It was pretty out there, but that's a good thing.

[Guest El Satanico]

Well i think the subject matter of the movie is one of the biggest reasons why she didn't win. I'm surprised she was even nominated.

 

There's also another big reason why she lost. Julia is the media darling and is loved by the general public. Erin Brockovich just happened to be the first movie that could justify a Oscar win by Julia.

 

So they had Julia's first movie that was somewhat(i found it to be very overrated) Oscar worthy and then they had this dark "scary" movie that showed explicit drug use. So honestly who do you think would be picked, of course Julia was going to win.

 

But aside from that, this is a very good movie. It's easily one of the best of 2000 and is filed as one of my favorites.

 

I'm sure it would cause a HUGE controversy but i honestly think they should show this movie to kids in school(with the nudity and explicit sex edited out of course). This movie would discourage drug use alot better then any of the current programs in schools. I mean honestly how many people do you know that would say that Dare made them stay away from drugs? All kids decide for themselves at some point and a movie like "Requiem for a Dream" would stick with them alot better then Dare coloring books and guys in dog suits wearing Dare shirts. I mean shit the movie scared me about using drugs and i've used them(nothing hard).

 

But we all know that parents would never go for it. When they say discourage kids from doing drugs they don't want for schools to do stuff that would actually scare kids about doing drugs. All they want is happy happy "druuugs are baaad m'kay" discouragement which doesn't work for the most part.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

shit, this ovie was fuckin insane, i would actually never even think about doing heavier drugs because of the shit they show in this movie

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

 

 

 

While I was watching it, I felt sorry for Ellen Burstyn because the drug she was using was supposed to help her lose weight. I felt sorry for her because she would be stuck on those pills for life. If you are someone who has a complex about your weight and you desire glamour and stardom, you would have to stay on those drugs because once you stop, the weight would go back on, and you would feel twice as bad because you lost the weight and couldn't keep it off. Being in college, I can't tell you how many girls I see who are like that. They are on their own for the first time and they put on weight. I wonder if they are plagued like Ellen Burstyn's character was.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I really liked this movie, and I thought it was one of the more creative movies to come out in a long time.  I think Entertainment Weekly said that this was the last movie to advance the medium.  The director(sorry I can't think of his name) uses many creative ways to show the drugs being used and how it effects the body.  He uses many quick edits to create a hip-hop montage, and that is something I have never seen before.  This movie pulls no punches at all.  It shouldn't make you feel good.  I agree with El Santanico about showing this movie to kids in order to stop them from using drugs, it would be more effective.

 

Also count me among those who think that Ellen Bernstyn's performance was far superior to Julia's.  Her performance is so heart breaking and far more emotional.  

 

Overall, this is a movie which should be seen, but I can understand anyone not liking it after watching it.   But, I am one who doesn't need a happy ending to enjoy a film.

[Guest godthedog]

also: if you haven't already, check out 'pi'.  aranovsky's first feature, made for something like $60,000, amazing movie.  better than 'requiem' in my opinion.

[Guest shlidgn90]

pi and requiem are not comparable movies. one is science fiction and the other is drama. i went to the theatre to see requiem and the ass on ass scene was just brutal(and unedited). ellen burstyn deserved to win an oscar that year, personally i think studios are paying off judges so stars like julia roberts and gyweneth paltrow can win.

[Guest El Satanico]

Yeah i don't think anyone still believes that the Oscars give awards based on performances alone.

[Guest Daredevil21]

Just a note of warning: There are some spoilers throughout this post, so don't come flamming for reading any of them.

 

 

I saw the movie back in October of 2001 in my health class, and while I was a bit bored with it at first (I figured it was another stupid movie that they show in school, you know what I'm talking about), I got pretty into it after a while.  Unfortunately, I was stuck in a class of morons, who only paid attention when you saw Wayans bare ass, or something else of the like.  I saw the last half of the movie on a day that I was feeling pretty sick for whatever reason, and I had to leave the room when they showed Harry's arm, because I felt like I was going to throw up.  

 

Because of that I missed the ending of the movie, and so I finally decided to buy the Director's Cut DVD off of ebay a few weeks ago.  Definately a good purchase if you liked the movie, as it features a nice making of extra, among other things.  I got it at a cool 8 bucks too, so it was definately worth it.

 

I thought that the music really added a lot to the movie, and that was actually one of the first things that got me to pay attention to it in class.  The acting was done pretty well, and it's nice to see Wayans in a role that isn't a comedic one.  My only major grip with the movie is the character development, in the fact that there is next to none, if any at all.  I don't know what it is, be it the quick camera work or just the storyline, but you don't get a feel for any of the characters, with the possible exception of Ellen Burstyn who does a great job with her character.  That is my only grip about the movie, and the fact is, the rest of it makes up for that one factor.  

 

I think that this movie should be shown to high school kids at least, since they are more likely to get involved with hard drugs than middle school kids are.  The language, sexual content, and graphic content shouldn't keep it from being shown in the class, because the reality is, you can only get through to most kids with those kinds of extremes these days.  Your typical health movie from the 70's are only going to get laughter from the students, but this movie will get most of them (with the exception of the total idiots) at least thinking about the results of doing hard drugs.  Personally, I've never felt the need to do any drugs of any kind, and this movie just reinforced that.  That's just me, but the movie really got me thinking, and killed any desire, no matter how small, to try drugs in the future.  That may sound corny, but I guess I'd rather be corny than lost part of my arm over some addiction.

 

Bottom line, this is a great movie with a great message, and it serves as a real eye-opener to the the downside of drugs.

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

I saw the film about six months ago and I left the theatre an emotionally drained wreck. Incredibly powerful film (and I agree that this is the kind of film you should show to kids if you want them to think twice about doing drugs). And the musical score is one of the most haunting I've heard in a long time. And Burstyn's performance was just heartbreakingly strong. She should by all means have won the oscar.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Requiem for a Dream is one of my favorite films.  It's so beautiful, then just breaks apart into disturbing intenseness (it's one of the few films that actually gets my heart racing, especially during the climax).  It's also got a brilliant score that's *cough* on my Amazon wishlist *cough* (sorry, had to get something out of my throat) and is also very effective at setting the mood.

 

The funny thing is, as great as the film is, there's really not much of a plot.  It makes brilliant use of editing and other artsy film trick (which is why I love it), but it's essentially Reefer Madness, only done well enough that its anti-drug message can be taken seriously.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

I forgot to add that Ellen Burstyn's performance is a vital part of the film, and if anyone was ever robbed for an Oscar, it was her.  I doubt the film would work as well if Sara Goldfarb wasn't such an identifiably sweet, lonely character that the audience is truly saddened to see her descent into addiction.  Erin Crockoshit (wow, I swore, I must really not like that film) is just another overrated Julia Roberts vehicle.  It actually bored me, and it takes a LOT for a movie to bore me.  Even if she had good roles (which she has had a couple, I'll admit), I just can't stand Julia Roberts.  She has an annoyingly fake smile, and is just so pretentious.  She hasn't once proven herself to be worthy of the praise she gets, not to mention she always gets to be in the "happy ending"... how unrealistic is that?

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

 

 

 

I think Sara Goldfab's appeal was the fact that she had somewhat admirable intentions. She had self esteem issues and I'm sure everyone knows someone who struggles with that kind of stuff. She wanted to lose weight because she thought she was going to be on tv. She was someone that you just wanted to root for. I didn't expect her to get on any kind of pills to help her, but I knew what was going to happen the moment she started taking them.

[Guest]

A very good movie that I saw purely by chance when it came out in theatres. Had to buy the DVD, and now whenever I watch it with friends who haven't seen in - they almost *always* have to pause it half-way through because it's so intense.

 

I sill have yet to see Pi, however.

[Guest converge241]

I love this movie (and PI, aronofsky's first) . the acting is top notch all around, the visual really conveys the themes and the soundtrack/score: my god.. just phenomenal.

[Guest Daredevil21]

Sorry to bump this, but there seems to be another thread starting on this movie, and it's pretty pointless to have two threads about the same movie. This thread has some good discussion in it.

[Guest pochorenella]

Sorry to bump this, but there seems to be another thread starting on this movie, and it's pretty pointless to have two threads about the same movie. This thread has some good discussion in it

 

I didn't realize there were two threads about this movie, I just posted on the other one. I'm watching the movie tomorrow (hopefully) and I'll try and post my opinions soon.

Jennifer Conelly full frontal? Hmm, I think I heard somewhere that the DVD version blurred this particular scene. Is this true? It would be a shame, since that's what I'm gonna watch.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

There are always multiple threads about everything.

[Guest Daredevil21]

Yeah, and that's a waste of space. That's something that has always bothered me on any message board. But whatever, if you want multiple threads on the same thing (ala the 15 threads talking about Austin beating Debra), then by all means, carry on. Just seems a bit pointless.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

The other thread didn't get the titleof the movie right.

[Guest converge241]

damn i thought the old one got blanked out by the change

 

yeah see the "dream of a requiem" thread

[Guest pochorenella]

Well, I just finished watching the movie (the Director's Cut DVD), and boy am I glad I'm not into drugs of any kind. Ellen Burstyn should have won the Oscar hands down. And I also agree with somebody earlier on the thread that the music really helped the movie a lot. And I also agree that Jennifer Connelly's charachter lacked some depth. I think the Wayans guy was the one who came out the least affected, don't you? Really powerful movie. Next I'm gonna give Pi a try one of these days.