(no subject)

[wickedflea]

I hated Requiem for a Dream. I thought it was overblown and ridiculous. It was visually stunning, of course, but I still gave it a solid thumbs down. But I know a lot of people liked it. So convince me.

Comments

[alicdeni83.livejournal.com]

the visuals stuck with me. it's not that i liked it or disliked it. It was just very strong visually. like i thought of about the "ass to ass" scene for a week. I think its ok for you to hate it. I can't give a reason to like it. I can't even decide if i liked it.

10 things off the top of my head

[luftwaffe.livejournal.com]

1. Ellen Burstyn gives the performance of her career. The other three main actors also do well.
2. Mad, mad pathos, primarily driven by Ellen Burstyn.
3. Great editing. One aspect I like - of many - early on, there are a lot of leisurely, longer scenes. These are gradually phased out, and the pace increases exponentially until the end, when you're getting lightning-quick cuts. This helps create the feeling that things are spiralling out of control.
4. The spiralling is also driven by the increased intensity of the things that are happening to them. By the time the bonesaw hits Jared Leto's arm, I couldn't possibly endure things getting more intense.
5. The montages that we see (and hear) each time the characters take a drug, for instance, give the movie the rhythm of a piece of music. A requiem, for instance.
6. Great music by Kronos, and great use of sound in general.
7. Little touches like the doctor who never looks at Burstyn's character as he prescribes her the pills that become her downfall, and the way no one ever says goodbye before hanging up telephones, add to the desolate feeling that these people are getting nothing but cold shoulders all around.
8. You get an idea of each character's dream (for things to be like they were when she fit into the red dress; to have success in the clothing-design venture; to have the kind of love and security your mom made you feel) and you see how they gradually move farther from it through their self-medication and escapism.
9. The various drug experiences are depicted amazingly well, mostly through changes in the speed at which things happen. One of my favorites: Ellen Burstyn's last visit to the doctor's office. Eerie as all hell.
10. You see Jennifer Connolley take some clothes off.

Re: 10 things off the top of my head

[sarcasmosis.livejournal.com]

all nine of these things were on my outlines for my papers. like most things i start, however, the paper never was finished. :(

Re: 10 things off the top of my head

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

It's so weird how perceptions can differ. I didn't think the drug experiences were realistic at all, I thought the performances were pretty bad (save Connelly), and I thought the story was god-awful. But I suspect that a second viewing might be in order. I can totally see what you mean about how the editing, music, pace, etc., are all geared toward a single purpose, and I could see that when I watched it, but somehow it just failed in the end for me. But thanks for the list--that's exactly what I was looking for. I know there's something to the movie, or else I wouldn't have asked. Maybe I just didn't get it. Or maybe I get it but just don't like it. But anyway, thanks!

[sarcasmosis.livejournal.com]

i'm really, really sorry i don't feel like explaining this right now.

let's just say i planned out three separate papers to write about the movie. one was about direction and acting, one was about cinematography/mis en scene, and one was about the story.

it's good stuff. it's so much deeper than the image. that's the problem with movies nowadays; everyone is obsessed with crap.

[goatsupreme.livejournal.com]

I love Hubert Selby Jr. I liked the movie, but I think one of the reasons that I liked it so much was because I wasn't disappointed. I hate it when you read a book and you see the movie and the movie sucks balls...that really pisses me off. I think the Requiem movie actually enhances the book - even though the movie was a little glitzy and modernized as compared to the book, it still worked, and I liked that.

Ellen Burnstyn was great beyond words.

I didn't even mind that a Wayans brother and that patsy from My So Called Life were in it.

[marigold.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I liked it. But it was definitely ... striking. I didn't come out of it feeling happy, but kind of with a blank look on my face thinking, "Wow."

My little brother popped the tape in the VCR the day after I watched it, and just hearing the music again gave me chills.

[dangerpest.livejournal.com]

Fuck "requiem", that bitch ass sell out double ended dildo piece of shit. "PI" is where it's at.

-p

[deadflowers.livejournal.com]

i loved it, and think it's a lovely trait of mine, as a filmmaker, to never want to "discuss film".
the last thing i'll to is attempt to convince one to like something.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

That's probably a wise choice. Very wise.

[alm35.livejournal.com]

*spoilers*

I agree completely. When you get right down to it, the message was about as cliched as you can get: "Drugs are bad, mmkay?" It's like Reefer Madness for the 21st century.

And plotwise it was ridiculously predictable. I'd been told in advance that the movie was "extremely disturbing," so all I needed to do was imagine the worst possible thing that could happen to each character and I had the ending pegged. The mom gets spaced out on diet pills? Yep. she's gonna end up in a mental institution, getting electroshock treatments that are played for maximum horror value. The hot chick is obviously going to end up as a whore -- I mean, duh, she's a hot chick, what else is she going to do? The junkie finds a weird sore on his arm partway through the movie? Yep, a bloody amputation scene is on the way.

A lot is said about the visual style of the movie. It's definitely distinctive, but I found it annoying as hell.

So no, you're not the only one.

[luftwaffe.livejournal.com]

Although I know there's no point in arguing, I can't resist asking: Would the movie have resonated better if Jennifer Connolley had been elected America's first female President, but then failed to get any legislation through the all-male Congress; Jared Leto had been abducted by aliens and forced to mine ore on a desolate moon; Marlon Wayans had joined the circus but been disillusioned after meeting the freaks; and Ellen Burstyn had become a famous pianist but then lost her hands in a boating accident?
That is to say, the predictability didn't bother me, because a certain sort of person is realistically in danger of meeting a certain sort of fate. ie, if you're a hot chick desperate to score junk all the time, seeing the prostitution coming won't necessarily stop it from coming.

[alm35.livejournal.com]

On reflection, I suppose what bothered me about that film wasn't so much the predictablity of the characters' fates (because I agree, the lifestyles they were leading made such fates likely.) What bothered me was that the filmmakers deliberately played up these fates, making them seem as horrific as possible. Which yeah, was a deliberate choice, and was in keeping with their aims in making the film. I didn't like how it was handled, but I realize that this opinion is subjective and that many others thought it worked wonderfully.

I do think that the narrative arc of the film is well-constructed -- it's a well-told story; I just have issues with the way in which the shock value of certain events was exploited.

[alishas.livejournal.com]

I thought it was shite. Watching the credits roll I honestly felt like going out and scoring some crack.