jeangu

movieoftheday:

CLICK PLAY: Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell (Soundtrack)

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000, directed by Darren Aronofsky)

After seeing Candy, a movie about heroin addiction starring Heath Ledger, which I recommend… with a caution, I have been wanting to watch Requiem for a Dream, but of course, Duke libraries have yet again failed me in carrying the movies I actually want to see (including this Duke does not carry the Thumbsucker, Primal Fear, The Go-Getter, Leon-the Professional, etc… whereas the UNC-CH library does!!!). So I went over to the UNC libraries, which have FAR MORE diverse selection of movies, and borrowed this movie. Yay!

So having said that, I obviously had high expectations of it. I even had the soundtrack downloaded before I watched this film, which by the way, I have to say is absolutely brilliant. Perfect. Okay so first, I will say the acting was very good. For everyone! Especially Ellen Burnstyn who plays the mother, a diet-pill addict. With that said, I am not sure… exactly why I wasn’t particularly moved by the film… Usually it’s not uncommon for me to shed a tear… or two hundred while watching an emotionally and psychologically draining dramas such as this. In terms of feeling disturbed and upset at some of the raw and graphic footages in the movie, I definitely felt that… Yes. I think the director went a little overboard with the shocking visuals. I couldn’t bear to watch some of the scenes in the end. All that is fine…. Except that I feel like they served no real purpose other than to… draw physical reactions from the audience. While I was feeling sick to the stomach, there was no sense of sympathy or… I don’t know, human connection?, that I always long for when watching movies. I really think that the music makes the movie so much greater than… it is. Overall, it was a telling movie… Addiction comes in many different forms, whether it be heroine, tv or losing weight… It may start out feeling good, but it quickly spirals down to a great demise. You lose control of yourself, you lose control of your life. Don’t do drugs. But I think I already knew all this before. I was expecting something more personal… I guess. It wasn’t a bad movie… but I don’t think it was as good as I thought it was according to the hype. I think Candy was by far a much more moving and powerful movie about addiction…

Next movie to watch: Leon, the Professional. I am excited for this!