#tbt Requiem for a Dream review

Happy Throwback Thursday everyone!
Today I'm reviewing Darren Aronofsky's 2000 anti-drug film, Requiem for a Dream.
First off let me tell you the plot. Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans) are all friends in Brighton Beach who like having fun, snorting coke, and shooting up heroin. It's all fun and games for them until their addiction to the drugs become much stronger and life gets much harder. Meanwhile Harry's mom, Sara (played by Ellen Burstyn in an Oscar nominated role), gets addicted to amphetamines or 'uppers' and starts to go insane. Yeah I know, it sounds incredibly harsh and depressing. It is. But it's an incredibly well done and terrific movie. The acting here is truly beyond and I think all the main actors deserved awards. Jared Leto is surprisingly great here. He's always alright, like he was in American Psycho or Fight Club, but he never blows me away. He does here. Jennifer Connelly is good also. I think she's a talented actress, but I was very disappointed with her in Blood Diamond (loved the movie, hated her performance). She's absolutely fantastic here. Her performance is so convincing it's almost like she's not acting. Ellen Burstyn gives the obvious best performance in the movie. She starts out as this loving mother and ends up as this crazy drug-addled person that's a shadow of her former self. The transformation is insane! Marlon Wayans also is terrific here. Yes, The Marlon Wayans. The one who was in all the Scary Movie flicks. He, very surprisingly, gives a depressingly fantastic performance! The movies worth seeing for the acting alone. Another one of the film's strong suits is it's editing and direction. Darren Aronofsky put an insane number of cuts in the movie. And it's flawlessly executed. To quote my brother, the ludicrous number of cuts is sort of a cinematic drug experience, emulating what's happening in the movie. I wouldn't expect any less from Aronofsky, who directed the awesomely confusing Pi. The movie is the best and most convincing anti-hard drugs film I may have ever seen. Yet, it doesn't come off as preachy at all. It's depressing and harsh and scary at times, but also beautiful at the same time. It certainly is helping Darren Aronofsky climb up by list of favorite directors. I hope to see more of his stuff soon. It's directed and written very well, with terrific performances, and is probably chock full of deep symbolism I didn't even notice. It's the best film about drugs I've seen since Trainspotting! I defintiely highly recommend it. Happy Viewing. You can follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies.