Requiem For A Dream - why is it so bad and hated?

I prefer Pi, i have to admit (though I love both films), but Pi was also written by Aronofsky so his vision is much clearer in that film (it remains, at the moment, my #1 favourite).

I walked out of the cinema thinking it was the most depressing but important film i'd seen and when I watched it again (we own the DVD) I was just kind of...meh.

Since seeing Try by Jonas Ackerlund, Requiem seems really contrived and silly.

That said, I'm a big fan of pi too.

The reason why I like the film is because of the way the visuals and sounds work together, and obviously that will have maximum impact in a cinema. That's probably why I like Pi more, cos I can watch that at home

2. The film's concept and presentation of drug and sex horror were very Stabbing Westward. It seemed to try to find the cool in the wrong spots (which tends to happen more often in creative drug movies). I loved Pi but he should have stuck to nerd shit. That's just me though.

Yeah OK tough guy.

xpost I know it's his style, I just find it very corny.

* there's a difference between "style" and "flashy gimmick."

For me this is Kids.

I loved Requiem for a Dream. It's not realistic but how can you not empathize/feel for the characters and their lost dreams? Watch Spun, now *that's* a horrible film (in a way Akerlund didn't intend)

also nobody seemed to have any friends; i guess this can happen in real life but the hermetic bubble around each story seemed there for convenience more than a problem or issue in itself

x-post

I can think of at least 100 worse movies.

If you worked at a well-stocked, nice video store and I walked in and asked you (the clerk) for a movie that would give me horrible nightmares, and perhaps even shake my faith in humankind, what film would you suggest?

I hadn't been posting long on ILE when I posted on that one.(Just ILM) I get all serious and stuff. I guess I can get pretty serious about movies.

hahaha, excellent.

I called it an R-rated Afterschool Special, although I'm sure neither Selby or Aronofsky intended this.

And there was a lot of buzz about Ellen Bursteyn's performance, but the editing did most of the acting for her.

Dude, more than half the reviews of "The PAssion" were about how it looked like a series of Renaissance paintings come to life.

that's pretty much OTM. but it is very well-made, shot, etc.

when i rented it i had made a sandwich and was unable to finnish it (the sandwich) due to the overwhelming feeling of total despair that movie had left me with. after that i just went to sleep.

rfad ruined my saturday night a perfectly fine ham sandwich.

As did the one thing no ones yet mentioned - Clint Mansell/Cronos Quartet's score! Man that score is *intense*.

you weren't able to Tuomas the sandwich?

it's not

needlessly squalid

i refery you to scott seward's post: I love it. I've heard people say good things about it on ILX more than once. I like it for lots of reasons. It's also one of the few movies I have seen that is almost COMPLETELY true to the book it is based on. In spirit and tone and everything. and ask if you're familiar with selby's writing, on which the film was based.
i thought it was quite a stinning bit of cinema. strange this thread should come up now, as i watched it and last exit to brooklyn in a hubert selby jr tribute night shortly after his death a couple of months ago and was really moved by it, again. the photography directly mirrors selby's writing style, the content of the fil itself was amazinglty true to th novel, which is quite a feat, given the sheer density and multi-layered nature of selby's prose. it's a bleak and often upsetting journey in print or on film, but by no means a bad one to go on.

I no longer think this movie was all about Marlon Wayans.

I'm shocked that people were surprised this movie wore off after the initial high, et al.

The website was far better than the film

i can't believe Spun got such a dissing here... i loved that movie! i spent most of it pissing myself with laughter.

and pi is one of my all-time favourites. like trayce, that film stayed with me for days afterwards.

you could have told trayce to leave.

pedantry lulz

LOL

bastard ;)

EEYASS TA EEYASSSSS!

currently in the top 100 movies of *all time* at number 62 on the
IMDB. banged on about a lot by The Kids these days too. it really wasn't watched much at the cinema, wonder why it's so well-respected now.

thoughts?

this movie was so goddamned annoying

I heard or read somewhere the idea that there are movies that you really wonder why people would own and I think this one makes the list. Are you going to be sitting there some day thinking, "Wow, I really wish I could feel miserable right now, let's watch Requiem for a Dream"?

the only good part of this movie were the sidewalk scenes with the old ladies gossiping

Totally blew me away in the cinema. If not for the intermission I think some people might not have made it through without some kind of physiological failure. Talking about the editing as "gimmick" etc seems like being deliberately thick-headed and refusing to note that producing a visceral response was precisely the goal at hand. It's a very good piece of film; agreed with those who say it doesn't hold up as well on DVD, I think the giant picture and giant sound were key to this thing as an experience. But I don't hold that against the film!

It's a great film, just one I don't see myself sitting though again any time soon.
As for it's 'popularity', well the attractive leads don't do it any harm.

I don't consider producing a visceral response much of an achievement in film

I never knew this film was "bad and hated". i could never watch it again, myself - mh basically sums up how i feel there. my friends always got on my case for not finding it enjoyable - glad i'm not alone!

THAT AMPUTATION SCENE, SRSLY.

MORE BOTTOMLESS JENNIFER CONNELLY ahem anyway I own this DVD but only because my wife bought me a Pi/RFAD super-saver double-pack. It sits there on the shelf like a junkie's rotting tooth. I should just give it to some kid next Halloween.

I just saw it for the first time. It's a shame Thirty Seconds To Mars wasn't around at the time, as I think it would have worked better as a 12 minute "concept" video.

I HAAAAAAAAATE THIS MOVIE

It's like a GAP ad made by Shoreditch twats.

I saw it at the student film co-op on a date. THANKS DARREN!

Granted this was probably six years ago but I HAVE NOT GOTTEN OVER IT.

i.e. unforgivably soulless and lacking any of the depth it aspires to. See also: 'The Fountain' (sorry Dazza).

WINTER

whoa whoa whoa there buddy you're dissing on THE FOUNTAIN?

this movie was stinky.

I still want to see the Fountain! It sounds pretty out there. Imdb says he's in talks to direct a Matt Damon/Mark Wahlberg boxing movie. I hope he doesn't, dude doesn't really need to have "actors" in his movies, rock stars could accomplish everything he needs from his on-screen subjects. Trent Reznor supposedly wants to make a movie out of Year Zero. He should do that instead.

I was really looking forward to The Fountain, and caught it recently at a local second chance picture house here (in a double bill with Sunshine), but I just found it really weak. Mainstream opinion was that it went over people's heads, but I found the whole thing a bit simplistic and silly, really, like sixth-form poetry. It had pretensions to be something far, far greater than it was, and I really think it showed. Nice visuals, but.

DRUGS R BAD

For some insane reason I just watched this movie for the first time since watching it in the theatre. I figured since I left near the end to throw up in the bathroom, maybe I should actually finish the movie. I agree that this movie really comes to life in a theatre, I mean I didn't throw up this time. Still, now I feel like shit and want to call my mom and tell her I love her.

I've only ever seen it that one time way upthread, and I'm not sure I'd watch it again; I loved it but its one of those "yeah I dont need to see it again" movies (like Greenaways "the cook the thief")

Exactly. One of those films, when you watch it again, you can't replicate the "magic." Also, douchebag is in it and I prefer to avoid him.

the book is better than the movie

I more meant I dont need to see it again because I found it too intense, but yeah.