Requiem for a Dream

Reviewed by: ChristinO

November 20,2000

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Anybody sound off on Requiem for a Dream yet?

Here's my take:

Beautiful and engrossing cinematography. Excellent performances all around. Good script. Great score.

BUT...

haven't we seen enough movies now about the horrors of heroine addiction and the desperate, degrading train-wrecks it makes of people's lives? Did we really need another film about drug addiction? This film tells the same old story well and in a visually captivating way, but in the end it really has nothing new to offer

Except...

I did appreciate the Gilliam-esque tribues with Burstyn's game-show life and the demon refrigerator. I'm also aware that there are several moterheads who will appreciate the copious nudity of Jennifer Connelly.

I wouldn't say this is a film not to see, but I will warn you that it is a very depressing film. It's hard to watch beautiful people turn to garbage before your eyes. I don't like to see films about the death of hope. I don't find them particularly gritty or arty. I can ride public transit for that.