Friday, April 12, 2013

Requiem for a Dream - Movie Review

Watched this completely unusual movie about addictions on DVD that I borrowed from Ram. It's based on a novel of the same name. The movie follows four lives - Sara Goldfarb, her son Harry, his friend Tyrone and Harry's girlfriend Marion.

Sara is a single parent who is addicted to television all day and junk food. She dreams of the day her son Harry will make her proud and bring her a grandchild. When she gets a call from a television channel that she has been chosen to be on it, she now dreams of losing weight so she can put on her red dress which she wore to Harry's graduation. She tries everything including drugs and increases the doses herself slowly losing her mind with drug overdose.

Harry, his friend Tyrone, and girl friend Marion are heroin addicts. Harry and Tyrone sell drugs to make money to provide for their habit and now, addicted to easy money, want to make enough to quit the drug trade. Harry wants to buy Marion a store for her designer wear - she's a talented designer. Tyrone wants to make his mother proud. But he gets caught in a drug killing and all the money they saved goes - most for his bail and the rest for the heroin they need to survive. Drug trade gets difficult to operate and access gets more difficult - they are all desperate as they have no money to buy and no drugs. So desperate that  Marion sleeps with her psychiatrist to get some money and then a drug trader and pimp who puts her on sex parties in exchange for her drug. Harry and Tyrone skip bail and head to Miami when Harry's infected arm gets so bad that they have to admit him to hospital. They are caught and put in prison.

Harry's arm is amputated, Tyrone is in hard labor and drug withdrawal, Marion is sucked into the sex for drug game and Sara taken to a mental institution where she loses her mind fully.

I found it intriguing to see how director Darren Aronofsky kept the pace and never let the momentum dip even though we pretty much know where all the characters are heading. Their path to their doom is as addictive as their own addictions. Much like our lives really - we use our own addictions and head towards the great full stop at an uncontrollable pace. Lots of adult stuff and disturbing too - but worth a watch because it does throw up some questions and allows you to ponder. Interesting film making too.

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