Give me Juice (Requiem for a Dream (DVD))

Member Name: funked_up DJ

Product:	Requiem for a Dream (DVD)
Date:	04/08/03 (477 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Storyline, camera shots, characters

Disadvantages: harrowing

Requiem for a dream is the second film by the excellent director Darren Aronofsky who came to prominince after his first film pie(maths symbol) was such a huge success, the huge task facing him when directing and writing the screenplay for requiem was trying to convert the vision of Hulbert Selby Jr's book onto the screen and at the same time make the audience feel like part of this disturbing storyline which centres around addictions of every kind.

The basis of the story centres around two main characters, Sarah Goldfarb, a lonely Widowed mother of one who is addicted to television and strives for recognition from her friends and neighbours. The other main character is Harry Goldfarb her chronic junkie of a son(played extremely well by Jared Leto) and his girlfriend Marion(Jennifer Connolly).The first scene in the film captures the mood for the entire film as we see Harry stealing his mums television(which has been chained to the wall to give you the impression that this is not the first time that this has happened) and selling it with his buddy Tyrone(Marlon Wayans) to score some smack and get high, its at this point that they come up with the idea to get clean and start selling it and save to buy a huge amount of pure heroin to set themselves up for life. Harrys mother on the other hand recieves a phone call telling her that she has been randomly selected to appear on television and begins her fixation with trying to lose weight so she can fit into the red dress that she wore to her sons high school graduation, Sarah's plight is probably the most disturbing part of the story, without giving up too much of the storyline lets just say that her friend recommends a doctor to her after her neice lost 50 pounds taking "special tablets", however this is not to say that Harrys story is not disturbing but you just feel a lack of compassion for him and his girlfriend as they know what they are doing to themselves.

The way this film was

shot is probably the most impressive thing about it as it uses hip-hop montage to skip between the storylines with sharp camera angles and pale lighting which shows the junkies in the true light of day and also the uses of fast paced sequences showing the diferrent characters getting their different fixes, the director also uses just about every camera effect in the book to encapsulate the audience in the story from the long lens shot to slow motion effects and super fast shots where every thing zooms by you.Also the sound track is excellent and he uses certain noises throughout the film again to capture the audience such as Airplanes passing overhead which was intended more for the cinema rather than DVD but still works well.

Overall this fim leaves you down and depressed but is really enjoyable at the same time as we are made to face the facts of addiction in a harrowing light, dont get me wrong this is not just a drug film as it tackles addiction to every day things such as T.V, coffee, food and sex but this is the type of film that they should show kids to keep them off drugs as if i saw this when i was younger i would have run a mile(not that i condone or partake in any illegal activity!lol).Excellent movie definately get it and you'll see what i mean it makes trainspotting look like a disney film.

Also the DVD extras include a section called Juice which you will understand once youve watched the film, within this it has deleted scenes, interviews with cast and crew, interview with the director telling why he shot the film the way he did and a documentary on addiction

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