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Carl Francis Eng 1010 Movie paper March 18 ¡¥02 ¡§Requiem for a Dream¡¨ is a movie that was directed by Darren Aronofsky. It¡¦s a story about the decent in to the hell and torment of drug addiction; however, Aronofsky sets out to demonstrate both the seductive ecstasy of a high and the shattering anguish of addiction. This is by far one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Character development is the main focus of Requiem, which is shown through creative camera angles, unbelievable editing, and potentially award winning acting.

This movie blew my mind away, actually I found it difficult to sit through the entire movie without taking a break to go outside just to make sure that reality wasn¡¦t as bad as the movie made it seem. Aronofsky did a mind-boggling job of exploring the pleasures, and horrors of drug use.

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Darren Aronofsky

English: A photo I personally took of Darren Arono...

However, he did it in a way that I had never seen before, his camera work and editing were so creative I couldn¡¦t help but repeatedly think ¡§Wow, I¡¦ve never seen anything like that before.¡¨ In a movie review of Requiem Arthur Lazere states ¡§Technique is important here because Aronofsky¡¦s films are both manneristic and expressionistic in spirit and style, exaggerating and distorting images for dramatic effect. He uses split screens, fast motion, fades to white, body-mounted cameras, repeated sequences, exaggerated sound effects somewhat self-conscious methods that quite deliberately keep the viewer always aware of the filmmaker and what he is up to, much the same way some painters use a think impasto,¡¨ ¡§I¡¦m somebody now, Harry! Everybody likes me! It¡¦s a reason to get up in the morning. It¡¦s a reason to smile.¡¨ These are the last words spoken between Harry and his mother, before they both descend into their self created, drug educed personal hells. The movies start out with a semi regular family, considering it is only a mother and a son, and the son is a heroin user. Dean Schmitz a movie reviewer for Variety says that, ¡§Many of the tragedies in the world are accidents; sad blunders of luck, but some, like the four stories in this film are the results of a chain of events that started off with ¡§normal everyday folks¡¨ and ended in the worst kind of way, and in a way that was not accidental, which is maybe the saddest thing of all.¡¨ All four characters start off as normal good people, other than the fact that three of them occasionally ¡§push off¡¨ which is the term used in the movie for shooting up heroin. The movie is broken down into three seasons of the same year, summer, fall, and winter. Summer is a great time for all of them, they seem to be doing well in life and most of their dreams seem to be within reach. Fall, is just what it says, all of the characters begin to fall into, or at least begin their decent in to their drug educed slumps. Finally comes winter, it is this season that all four characters hit rock bottom. Which is graphically depicted in a final montage of disturbing and shocking clips of all of them in their personal hell.

This movie also contains a memorizing sound track that is just as unusual as the rest of the movie. Each character is given their own background music, which is played whenever the scene is centered on them. All of their anthems are creepy yet upbeat and they do an incredible job of setting the correct mood for the scene. During the final montage of the movie, all four characters background music comes together in an unbelievable orchestra of creepy music that fits the movie to a T.

In my mind this movie is close to perfect, it has a shocking story line, accompanied with a sound track that will give you goose bumps. I defiantly recommend this movie to any one who would like to be dumbfounded and shocked all at the same time. However, keep in mind the when Aronofsky was at the premier of this move he actually said, ¡§Let me say ahead of time, I¡¦m sorry.¡¨

English: Black Swan cast and crew (from left to ri...

Requiem for a Dream

English: Director Darren Aronofsky at the 83rd Aca...

Darren Aronofsky getting a smooch from Marisa Tome...