Sorry for weighing in off-topic, but I can't help meself:
I truly enjoyed the "routine" fast-forward editing of the film, probably
more than anything else, essentially for the continual (and subtle, and may
I add elegant) driving home of the point that the time spent fulfilling any
of the individual addictions/yearnings was exactly the time during which the
characters were not dealing with the actual activity of _living_, or at
least of dealing with the facts of their more immediate situation. The time
was swallowed in a heap of frenzy.
However, and this is where the film goes wrong... it's all too neat, and all
too easy. "Jennifer Connelly is fucking in hell.... Jennifer Connelly is
fucking in hell." Lord. I'm not saying these types of things don't happen,
but the four-fold synchronized, moralistic, melodramatic descent (coupled
with the overindulgent cheese of that moving refrigerator and that hackneyed
paranoiac game show scene) moved the film over the edge from intelligent
commentary/aesthetic to movie-of-the-week bathos. The very same distancing
techniques that could have made the film extremely effective ended up
contributing to its failure, because without identifying with or
sympathizing with any of the individual self-obsessed characters, one is
left focusing on the arc of the film and the devices employed. If it had
lived up to its own ambitions (or even to its cinematography), it could have
been great. As it stands, it was wildly uneven, and left me feeling
somewhere between manipulated and unimpressed.
It is not, however, a flaw in the movie if it makes you wince or feel
uncomfortable. Tim Roth's "The War Zone" made me scream inside, almost
through the entire movie, especially since Roth never allowed the viewer to
step outside of anything (not due to character identification but rather to
truly uncomfortable viewer implication). And, well, I may have walked out
feeling like a car accident, but that film was outright brilliant, and
caused a number of slow turnings in my head over the next weeks, primarily
because the film refused to allow me to entirely disregard my role in what
was happening on screen. Not to say that most audience members weren't able
to dismiss the film, at least at the surface level, as merely "fucked up" or
"offensive."
Requiem for a Dream was far from pointless, as wasn't the book--it's point
was embarassingly bald throuhgout the film--but it's seriously flawed, IMO,
and for reasons far different from those stated below.
Cheers,
M.
-----
Made with affection by distrustful lovers.
"wells@hiro.submute.net" <wells@hiro.submute.net> wrote:
quoted 3 lines The film's by Darren Aronofsky, of Pi, the lesser-known and >not-so-hot
>The film's by Darren Aronofsky, of Pi, the lesser-known and >not-so-hot
>Protozoa and, perhaps unfortunately, the next Batm=
>an installment.quoted 6 lines Requiem For a Dream is mildly decent.. it hits wonderfully at times >and
>Requiem For a Dream is mildly decent.. it hits wonderfully at times >and
>misses horribly at others, ultimately ending in some sort of >tragic
>why-am-I-watching-this finale. Someone on the IDM list >showered glowing
>praise on it saying it was "unbearable." I agree >that it's unbearable at
>times, but I wasn't aware that was a
>quality of a decent movie.quoted 2 lines It works as a film if you've got a hankering to watch a bunch of >junkies
>It works as a film if you've got a hankering to watch a bunch of >junkies
>go down the drain.quoted 2 lines One of my friends - who really enjoyed the film - asked of it, "Why >the
>One of my friends - who really enjoyed the film - asked of it, "Why >the
>hell did he make this movie?"quoted 1 line Which I wondered too.
>Which I wondered too.quoted 1 line I'd take Pi. I don't like looking at car crashes
>I'd take Pi. I don't like looking at car crashes
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