Requiem For a Dream

For the film of the month post, I usually write about a movie that I love and are very familiar with since I am not a film critic and don’t really wish to be one. However, this time I must write about this movie that has impressed me. I want to make an exception, and share my feelings for this movie that without even knowing the full context of it I am so overwhelmed with it I can’t really not say anything. I have to share it, I must. This movie is Requiem For a Dream.

Now, before I get into all the drama, I wish to share a little info on Jared Leto (the main lead of the movie) because I think that he himself has made an impression on me.

The first time I saw Jared Leto was in My So-Called Life. He was the sexy rebel, intense, sort of “forgotten by life” boy Angela Chase fell in love with. I fell in love with him too. But after the show I did not really follow him as an actor or anything else. I have read here and there he has recorded albums, and I have seen him in other movies, but nothing that really caught my attention. I always thought of him as Jordan Catalano (the character he played in My So-Called Life) and never really saw him as what he truly is, and artist.

I first realized I had the wrong impression of him when I saw pictures of the cast in a reunion for the show years later. In the picture, he was with Clare Danes (Angela) and his look -I mean the way he was dress- was totaly mind blowing since I did not expect him to be gothic like. I really have nothing against gothics, punks, whatever they are called, but I was not expecting that of Jordan, I truly was not, and so it was sort of a shock. Now that I have done searches on him and I have seen his image, I have to say I don’t dislike it one bit. I’m not a complete fan of his music, although I do enjoy listening to “Kings and Queens” the lead single from his album This Is War, released in 2009. Listening to some of his music, and reading articles about him, also watching interviews he has done, I have to admire his passion and dedication to his work. I have realized that he is not just Jordan, and I should not relate him to My So-Called Life only, but to many other things he has done that deserve recognition. One of them was the character he played in Requiem For a Dream, Harry Goldfarb.

I can’t really say if his acting was excellent or not, but I can only say that after watching a clip from the movie I have become intrigued by Harry and his life. If an actor can make you experience that, then it surely deserves your attention. Too bad I will not watch the film, I choose not to because I don’t want to spend a week or more feeling depress and attached to somebody else horrible life experiences. I’m pretty sure if Jared ever read this (something improbable)  he would feel content, since he said in an interview how he wished the film made everybody sick. Yes Jared, even clips from the movie made me sick. If I was strong enough to go trough this, I would watch this film; and I would be completely taken by each of its character; and I would be sad, very sad, for weeks. And then, I would probably not talk about it, or maybe I would. Since that is not going to happen, I choose to talk about it now, and share this bit of craziness.

There are many ideas I have about this movie, things that came to my head while watching interviews with the director, Darren Aronofsky and Jared, and also watching the end scene of the movie (if you read “Summer Reading, and my Poor Habit”, you will know this is a normal thing for me).  One of them, and perhaps the most interesting for me since I have not seen the film yet, is how at the end everybody comes to realize the truth about who they are and their lives while laying on a bed in the fetal position; I thought this is particularly significant to the idea of how something returns to its normal state, realization of your truth… etc. It made me want to watch the film, although I wont.

Requiem For a Dream;

Ending scene;