Requiem for a Dream is the film that truly made director Darren Aronofsky’s reputation and was a well-regarded art film when it was released.  A young heroin addict (Jared Leto), his best friend (Marlon Wayans), and his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) enjoy a summer of selling and using drugs while the addict’s mother (Ellyn Burstyn, an Academy Award nominee for Best Actress) becomes obsessed with appearing on television in her favorite red dress.  She needs to lose weight, though, and becomes addicted to amphetamine diet pills.  Things go south for each of the characters.  The mother ends up hospitalized in a psychiatric ward due to an amphetamine-induced psychosis.  The addict develops an infected arm and has to have it amputated.  His friend ends up in prison due to drugs.  His girlfriend turns to prostitution to support her habit.

The film is a harrowing experience, but seeing it again after 10 years reveals that it doesn’t hold up well at all.  It is incredibly stylized and features rapid-fire editing, split screen, and a driving electronic score.  Similar to other turn of the century films such as Run Lola Run, these elements, which seemed cutting edge at the time, have dated poorly.  The shallow development of the characters deadens the impact of the film and ultimately guts any chance Aronofsky had to say something meaningful about addiction.  He developed the film with Hubert Selby, Jr., the novelist and addict who wrote the source book.  They want the film to be a blunt instrument but their lack of compassion for their characters betrays their contempt for the addicts.  Most drug films try to make someone in the mix compelling, but, in Aronofsky’s effort to deglamorize drugs, here everyone is dragged down by his obvious lack of insight into their diseases.  Even the mother is made to look ridiculous with her interest in television (a low art form, obviously) and hysterical nature.  Distasteful to the extreme, this film has become my go-to example as to why time can clarify the impact and quality of a film.  ✰ ✰.

MJM  12-07-2011