“The first time I watched this movie, I was back at my old dorm. That amazing beyond all belief theme starts playing. Hallmate walks by. Hears the very recognizable tune. Pokes his head in. “”You’re watching ‘Requiem for a Dream’?”” “”Yeah”” “”Well, um, that’s one way to spend a Friday night””. I had similar exchanges on pretty much every subsequent viewing. Someone would hear the theme, stop dead in their tracks, stare at me. “”You’re watching ‘Requiem For a Dream’?”” “”Yeah”” “”You hadn’t seen it before?”” “”Oh I’ve seen it a couple times”” *shocked and apalled* “”You’re watching it again?! Why??!!”” At least half of them mumbled something about the refrigerator before shuddering and walking away. I cant recall ever encountering someone who had seen the movie more than once.
But why can I watch it over and over? Lots of reasons. The first one being Jared Leto at pretty much his most gorgeous since his days as Jordan Catalano. The long hair, the accent, the intensity, those baby blues. That is why I think he is the most gorgeous man alive.
The next reason is the brilliance of Darren Aronofsky. I just love the style of the whole thing. My favorite scene (sadly, no clip on YouTube) is the first diet breakfast the mom eats. She stares at her meal. You hear a munching noise, and the interior of the grapefruit is gone. She pouts. Stares at the food. You hear a crunch, and the egg is reduced to shells. Then the same with the coffee. So simple, but so cool. There’s so many other brilliantly beautiful scenes like the split screen romantic one, or messed up ones like anytime crazy Sarah gets followed around.
Another, very simple reason why I love this movie is I love my dramas to be \m/ up. You may have noticed that a bit with some of the previous entries on the list. It’s all downhill from here. The darker and more intense the movie, the bigger and more visceral the emotion. I like to be shocked into that feeling. I love it when the images of a movie stick with you, and even more so when those emotions are anchored to those images whenever you recall them. There’s so many scenes in this movie that are messed up or even scary, but that’s exactly what I love about this film. Its almost like I find a sick kind of beauty in it. Not just any film can do that.”