FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Requiem For A Dream [DVD] [2001]

Requiem For A Dream [DVD] [2001]
enlarge	Director: Darren Aronofsky Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald Studio: Momentum Pictures Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy New: £4.14 as of 22/11/2009 18:36 GMT details You Save: £15.85 (79%) New (20) Used (8) from £2.99 Seller: halfpricedvds Rating: 122 reviews Sales Rank: 1966 Format: PAL Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 97 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5060021171214 ASIN: B00005N53K Theatrical Release Date: October 27, 2000 Release Date: August 6, 2001 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Fantasy mixes with the harsh reality of addiction and the desire for hope in IRequiem for a Dream/I. Beginning at the dawn of a new summer in Coney Island, the film charts the relationship of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) and her son Harry (Jared Leto)--two characters who are lost with in a world of the self-absorbed desire to feed their addictions at the cost of hope and love. With a sublime score (performed by the Kronos Quartet) accompanying some intense visual imagery, the film sets up an almost fairy-tale wash over the characters' lives, with every hit of their chosen drug turning them into beautiful people surrounded by a haze which enhances all their features. However, unlike films such as ITrainspotting/I which turn the dream into a nightmare then end with a huge dose of hope, IRequiem for a Dream/I forces the viewer through all loss of hope and the descending madness of reality, as winter begins. p Darren Aronofsky's follow-up to the critically acclaimed IPi/I is a movie which exposes not only the terror caused by addiction of any kind--be it TV or Heroin--but also offers a powerful insight into the destruction caused by the desire to achieve "the American Dream". Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr, the film sacrifices dialogue in favour of imagery and movement: the editing and cinematography are reminiscent of MTV, however the movie takes this very aggressive style and moulds it to its own needs, adding a beautifully haunting narrative and powerful performances by its four main characters (Burstyn just missing out on an Oscar for Best female lead to Julia Roberts). Ultimately the viewer is left with a sense of desperation and despair: IRequiem for a Dream/I exposes drugs and addiction in the most powerful and truthful way a film has ever managed, leaving no stone unturned. p BOn the DVD/B: This disc is bursting with excellent special features. The anamorphic widescreen picture makes the most of the film's stylish visuals, and the soundtrack offers choice of either Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. As well as offering the obligatory theatrical trailer, scene selection and a fantastic director's commentary, there's also a "making-of" featurette, TV trailers charting the reviews and success of the film, an "Anatomy of a scene", and a wide range of deleted scenes. By far the best feature is Hubert Selby Jr's interview with Ellen Burstyn, which offers the writer a chance to put across not just his opinions on his work but also on life as a whole. All these features are placed within an impressively formatted menu. --INikki Disney/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 122 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...25 Next » A complete masterpiece June 28, 2003 38 out of 41 found this review helpful This is one hell of a bleak film, but as long as you can watch it (some people I know couldn#8217;t sit through it), it is an absolute masterpiece. It#8217;s an adaption of a book by Hubert Selby Jr. about the various addictions of four people (an elderly widow, her son, his girlfriend and his best friend) , be they to drugs, television, or even the hope of a better tomorrow, in Brooklyn, New York. So far, so Trainspotting you might think. However, the two films are actually very different, not least in terms of visual style. In this aspect, Requiem For A Dream is streets ahead of it#8217;s British counterpart. The director Darren Aronofsky, a native of Brooklyn himself, has done a first class job here, using a variety of different techniques, including split screens, time lapse photography and speeded up montages. In the commentary on the DVD, he said he wanted to avoid making an MTV-style film, but that#8217;s what it looks like. This is by no means a criticism, though, the film looks absolutely fantastic, but I see no sense in denying its style.brAs well as the superb cinematography, the film also contains some superb performances from its four stars Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connolly and Marlon Wayans. Indeed, Burstyn was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, though she didn#8217;t win. It is also nice to see Leto in a role where he has more to do than look handsome.brThis film is not one to watch when you are feeling a bit down, as it is not in the least bit cheery. I promise it will make you feel worse, as it is heartbreakingly sad to see the lives of the protagonists completely unravelling before their eyes, whilst they keep believing things are soon going to get better. Things don#8217;t get better, they reach rock bottom for all of the characters. No redemption, no happy ending, just one of the best films of the last ten years. Absolutely essential. Birth Of A Nightmare October 29, 2003 Martin A Hogan (San Francisco, CA. (Hercules)) 30 out of 34 found this review helpful Director Darren Aronofsky ("PI") has brought together a story of four people full of hope and allows them to slowly disintegrate into helpless shells. The director's trick is that you continue to care about these characters throughout the film - not an easy feat. Leto and Wayans (a nice dramatic turn for the comedian) are best friends caught up in heroin addiction. Connelly is Leto's girlfriend who has her own problem with cocaine. Throw in Leto's Mom, Ellen Burstyn and you have an unlikely collection of likeable people on their way towards self destruction. We already know that all the characters are going to end up in hell or worse, but it's the way that the Director shows the quick and varied descent of each one that makes watching a car wreck seem like kids stuff.pLeto and Wayans end results are just as horrific as Connelly's final wasteland. In fact, in this unedited version, Connelly has some nasty final punishment come her way. Burstyn is the stand out performer here; with speed (diet pills) induced hallucinations and gritty realistic acting. What starts out as a simple wish to fit into her favorite old dress turns into insane sequences of distorted reality and terrifying delusions (imagine a killer refrigerator threatening her - it's so real, it's uncanny).pAronofsky's techniques are amazing, with fast cut editing and speed filled action sequences that instill the mood of a nightmare sequence. There is simply too much symbolism, imagery and artistic endeavor to list here other than to say the scenes are breathtaking. The dialogue and interaction between characters is genuine and each scene is carefully orchestrated to balance reality from fiction. It's a hell of a story and a nasty ride, but worth every cinematic moment.pThere are plenty of extras like Director's commentary (really nice feature), a making of featurette and deleted scenes. GRIM, INTENSE, RELENTLESS... January 1, 2003 Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) 29 out of 33 found this review helpful This is a wonderful, dark film about drug addiction, as well as the destruction of hope. It is marvelously cast with wonderful performances by Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, and Jennifer Connelly. It is Ellen Burstyn's bravura performance, however, that blows the viewer away.pBurstyn plays the role of Sara Goldfarb, a lonely, middle aged widow who lives in Brooklyn and has a handsome, though heroin addicted son, Harry, affectingly played by Jared Leto. Harry spends most of his time shooting up and dealing drugs with his buddy, Tyrone, deftly played by Marlon Wayans. Harry has a pretty, well to do girlfriend, Marian, played by Jennifer Connelly, who walks on the wild side with Harry and begins her own downward spiral with drugs.pSara is in denial about how serious her son's drug habit really is. She is, in fact, the great enabler when it comes to Harry. The concept of tough love never even enters her mind. After all, Harry is all she has. For her, hope springs eternal, when it comes to her beloved Harry. pSara spends her days glued to her tv set, watching her favorite game show or talking to other lonely, middle aged women who spend their time sitting in front of the multi-unit apartment building in which they all live. Her life is limited and stark, until she one day receives a call inviting her to be a contestant on that game show she watches. It is here that her life begins to unravel, as she goes on a diet in order to fit into her favorite red dress in preparation for her possible television debut. Fueled by diet pills provided by a so called "doctor", she begins to live a life that parallels that of her son.pThe director, Darren Aronofsky, inventively shows the viewer the experience of drug addiction in a novel way, through a montage of vivid sensory and imagery bursts that become more frequent and intense, as the drug use in the film becomes more pervasive and relentless. He takes the viewer through the personal downward spiral of each of the four main characters in the movie, as they hurl on a personal collision course fueled by each one's respective drug addiction. It is one of the most frightening and horrifying portrayals of drug addiction ever to grace the screen. Marvelously directed and acted, this is a film to remember. Bravo! Unspeakably powerful July 16, 2002 10 out of 11 found this review helpful I can honestly say this is the only film i have seen that had the power to change my thinking and outlook on life. Ever since i first saw it the characters, imagery and emotion of the piece have remained with me. Every aspect of this film is a triumph. Each of the four leading actors are stupendous and in my view both Connelly and especially Burstyn were robbed of oscars that were rightfully theirs.p There are many great films, but what separates the great from the truly great are those that are completely unique, as is this one. I purchased this dvd on a limb and unsure what to expect, but from the outset the picture showed me a new cinematic language in its montage imagery, pacing, editing and what is surely one of the most brutally moving scores ever composed.p Aside from these, the film is unique in its honesty. Yes it is supremely dark in its subject matter and climax and thank god for it. For too long Hollywood has felt the need to produce pleasant, hopeful comfort film and neglected from portraying what is in many cases the unpleasant reality of life for so many people. In the real world lives get messed up and they dont always get better, sometimes they stay messed up, and finally we have a director, writer and studio prepared to admit this. The result is a film that many will reject and despise, because it challenges the shell that protects us and our enclosed existence from the reality of what is all around us, but a film that ought to be experienced, and treasured by those who appreciate what makes a great film.p To see 'requiem for a dream' is draining, exhausting and exhilarating, but it is not depressing. Several times i have watched this picture and found myself strangely uplifted, a downbeat emotion that very few films have ever aroused in me. You will not so much 'watch' this film as experience it and its power. It is a brief but heightened assault on the senses, and with brilliant acting, scripting, characterisation, imagery, poetic narrative and musical force, modern films come no better than this. Horrifying February 2, 2007 J. Higgins-Commowick (Lincolnshire, UK) 15 out of 17 found this review helpful Requiem for a Dream tracks the lives of four central characters: a young boy, his girlfriend, his mother and his best friend/partner in crime. The boy uses heroin, dope and coke; the girlfriend and best friend similarly. The mother is retired and spends all day watching gameshows. br / br /Initially, the film showcases them as beautiful, hopeful people, illuminating their quiet moments and their deepest desires. Then, they begin to plan and make tracks: the girlfriend's habit grows stronger, making her dependent on the boy, who in the meantime is trying to amass money with his friend to buy a kilo of pure. The mother has received a typical bogus offer to appear on the gameshow she constantly watches and is trying to lose weight, eventually resorting to pills prescribed by a private doctor. br / br /An interesting parallel begins to emerge between the mother's shut-in lifestyle and son's high-octane street one: both prisoners, both addicts, and both clinging to dreams that start to slip through their fingers. br / br /Things quickly go wrong in a hellish downward spiral: the mother becomes addicted to the pills, and begins hallucinating (her doctors are apathetic and ignore her); the boy and his friend get arrested, the former with a heavily infected arm; the girlfriend resorts to prostitution in his absence to get money for her fixes. It goes further and further down this line, and there is no happy ending. br / br /It's not a bad film, though. True, it will probably make you cry or vomit, but the camerawork is superb, the acting utterly believable, and the erosion of their lives is perfectly choreographed, growing more and more frantic and culminating in a head-spinning whirl of mortifying images from each character's personal hell. It's assisted by brilliant music, semi-orchestral, semi-techno filler that grows more discordant and confused as the characters' lives do. It's a winning effect. br / br /So, while not a film you'll watch twice (unless you're a sucker for punishment), it's a film you should really see once. It captures the futility and corruption of drug addiction, street crime and prostitution in a way that makes Snatch look like Cinderella. Just don't recommend it to anyone who's overly sensitive or young. Showing reviews 1-5 of 122 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...25 Next »

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