So Good it's Bad?

Requiem For A Dream is the 21st Centurys answer to The Exorcist. The latter was banned in Britain from 1973 to 1998. The British Board of Film Censorship saying, the problem with The Exorcist is not that it is a bad film, it is that it is a very good film. Its one of the most powerful films ever made. The opposite of the popular so-bad its good phenomenon, The Exorcist was so good it was bad.

When the film was initially released, young British girls passed out and threw up (though not in that order) in cinemas across the nation. Modern audiences are made of sterner stuff; when The Exorcist was re-released in 1998 there was no vomiting and there was even some laughing, the special effects not dating as well as the narrative. However, I have to confess that my (admittedly convincing) tough guy persona was dealt a serious blow by Aronofskys latest. Requiem For A Dream left me wanting my mommy.

There is plenty to criticize here. The tale of Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans and Jennifer Connelly falling into drug addiction is clichd, and some of the drug-talk left me unconvinced (this stuff is dynamite), and the idea that Ellen Burstyns character is addicted to the other drugs such as TV, coffee, sugar etcetera is shouted rather than whispered. Letos character even says No ones a bigger TV junkie than the old lady just in case theres someone very slow out there who doesnt quite get it. Likewise, proceedings are more than a little over stylised, so much overt technique that it shifts attention away from the characters, sometimes resembling a very long student film.

Its incredible that these quite significant shortcomings dont detract from the absolutely terrifying cant-watch-but-cant-look-away power of the second half of Requiem For A Dream. Seeing Jared Leto force a syringe into his gangrenous arm is horrifying enough, but there is nothing in the world that can prepare you for the last fifteen minutes, a savage assault on the senses that will leave you longing for a cold dark place to hide in.

When thought about rationally, the actual events arent so bad, it's the way Aronofsky presents them that is so devastating. He repeats a montage of extreme close ups, focusing on the nuts and bolts of drug addiction, always culminating in a dilating pupil that fills the screen. Sounds like a bad idea on paper but Aronofsky gives the montage a rhythm, it becomes like a musical piece, subtly changing each time its repeated.
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Theres something darkly terrifying about this little montage and the whole thing grows and expands to become a four way cross cut of parallel action as the principal characters sink into their individual tragedies, this being the basis of the above mentioned nightmare inducing finale. This hypnotic rhythm must be why even as you become so overwhelmed you think your head might explode it is one hundred per cent impossible to look away; it slowly draws you in and wont let go until youre spat out the other end.

With The Exorcist, there is a pleasure in being shocked and scared, thats the nature of the horror genre. Requiem For A Dream is a dramatic film, and there is no pleasure in having your emotions mauled in this way (unless youre a card carrying masochist), and assuming that you knew beforehand getting addicted to heroin is not a good idea, theres nothing to be learnt either. This in mind, its worth questioning if Requiem For A Dream needs to exist at all, except maybe as something parents can threaten their children with. Finish your dinner or Im putting you know what in the DVD player! On the other hand something that prompts such a strong reaction has to be

considered an achievement, art even. Im certain of one thing; if Requiem For A Dream is re-released in 25 years time therell be no laughing in the theatres, just former tough guys calling out for their mothers as the credits roll.

DVD:

None of the usual press junket repackaged as a making of here, and no Jared and Jennifer sitting around talking about how Darren is simply wonderful to work with. Instead, theres an excellent director's commentary (Aronofsky knows whats what) and a short but informative few minutes called Anatomy Of A Scene. There're deleted scenes aplenty if thats what floats your boat, and also an interesting interview with source material writer Hubert Selby Jr. Its everything you could ask for shiny disc wise.

Daryl Grove

(Originally published by Tail Slate magazine www.sheridanrealm.com/movies )

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