Requiem for a Dream

2000

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Distributor: Artisan Entertainment

Key Elements: Story – Visuals – Message - Music

My Review:

I hold this movie responsible for my avoidance of drugs. I don’t see how anyone could want to risk that habit after seeing this story played out.

Aronofsky again addresses obsession, this time looking at how addiction tears lives apart. In the end, Sara has lost her mind, Marion has prostituted herself, Tyrone is in jail, and Harry looses his arm. They’ve all had their lives ripped away, leaving them broken and isolated – completely alone.

But Aronofsky tells the story with a surreal, bizarre style – sometimes leaving the viewer as disoriented as the characters.

This movie also gave us an intense, classic movie score.

Oh... Don’t do drugs, kids.

Clip:



Quotes:

• Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, and orange in the evening. Just like that, one, two, three, four.
• Anybody wanna waste some time?
• Ma? Ya on uppers?
• I'm somebody now, Harry. Everybody likes me. Soon, millions of people will see me and they'll all like me. I'll tell them about you, and your father, how good he was to us. Remember? It's a reason to get up in the morning. It's a reason to lose weight, to fit in the red dress. It's a reason to smile. It makes tomorrow all right. What have I got Harry, hm? Why should I even make the bed, or wash the dishes? I do them, but why should I? I'm alone. Your father's gone, you're gone. I got no one to care for. What have I got, Harry? I'm lonely. I'm old. …Ah, it's not the same. They don't need me. I like the way I feel. I like thinking about the red dress and the television and you and your father. Now when I get the sun, I smile.
• I love you, Harry.
  - I love you too, Mom.
• Ass to ass.
• Did what? Some dumbass junkie did what? You mean, you fucked it up!
• No... she won't come.

Still:

The Fountain

2006

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Composer: Clint Mansell

Distributor: Warner Brothers / Fox Movies

Key Elements: Visuals – Concept – Symbolism – Music

My Review:

Darren Aronofsky’s movies are often about obsession. Obsession with numbers in Pi. Obsession with drugs in Requiem for a Dream. In this movie, a man is obsessed with overcoming death.

The film’s title is a reference to the fountain of youth. Tommy’s wife Izzy is dying of cancer. But while Izzy, a writer, comes to terms with her end, Tommy, a drug researcher, refuses to give up on finding a way to save her.

The movie is dazzling as it jumps back and forth within three different period settings. The most stunning of which is a futuristic space journey. But the space shots weren’t done with CG technology. They are marco-photographs of fluid dynamics – giving the viewer a sence of traveling into the infinite.

The climax is heightened as these photographic techniques combine with Manell’s score. Tommy, essentially, gives his life to Izzy in the end – a definite illustration of the gospel.
A beautiful, beautiful movie.

Interesting note: When production of the movie was delayed, Aronofsky released the story in the form of a graphic novel.

clip (Spoiler):



Quotes:

• Every shadow no matter how deep is threatened by morning light.
• All right, I trust you. Take me. Show me.
• My conquistador! Always conquering...
• They planted a seed over his grave. The seed became a tree. Moses said his father became a part of that tree. He grew into the wood, into the bloom. And when a sparrow ate the tree's fruit, his father flew with the birds. He said... death was his father's road to awe. That's what he called it. The road to awe.
• Death is a disease. There is a cure, and I will find it.
• Together we will live forever.
• All these years, all these memories, there was you. You pull me through time.

Stills: