Requiem for a Dream (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Darren Aronofsky (Director) Audio Commentary-Matthew Libatique (Director of Photography) Featurette-B-Roll Biographies-Cast & Crew Interviews-Cast & Crew Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes-8 Production Notes Theatrical Trailer-2 Featurette-Memories, Dreams & Addictions Easter Egg-Tappy Tibbons Infomercial
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	97:00 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (94:44)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Darren Aronofsky
Studio Distributor	Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Ellen Burstyn Jared Leto Jennifer Connelly Marlon Wayans
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Clint Mansell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

   It is rare for a movie to be totally depressing and yet thoroughly enjoyable, but Requiem for a Dream is both. Director Daron Aronofsky has adapted the novel by Hubert Selby, written in the mid 70's, into a more modern version of Selby's dark and despairing world of drugs and addiction. There isn't much of the original novel left in the movie, for those that have read this depressing tome, but there is still the sense of malaise, the highs and lows experienced by his characters and that dreadful journey into darkness that permeated his original work. Aronofsky uses a lot of cinematic techniques to get across this slide into oblivion and does it with some obvious relish and supreme competency. Much like his first movie, what results is so much in the eye of the beholder, it's either a classic or a really depressing movie about drugs and drug usage.

    Addiction comes in many forms and Aronofsky offers up more than just the usual cocaine and heroin. One of his central characters, Sara, is addicted to television, chocolate and diet pills. There are much more subtle drugs that we take for granted because their insidiousness is not apparent and only when abused can they cause problems. He also uses a sense of isolation to distance his characters so that their cravings, which slowly eat into their very core, find no refuge in the warmth of relationships and the breakdown of reality that follows ends up leaving them devastated, broken and mere shadows of their former selves. This is by no means a pretty picture and he cuts no corners or tries to leave the viewer with any skerrick of pity for these people, yet you still feel remorse for their situation which is testament to both the actors and script.

   The movie begins with Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) stealing his mother's TV so he can sell it for drugs. Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) locks herself in her bedroom. A strangely compelling beginning uses a split screen effect to isolate this mother and son in the same apartment. As we see Harry and his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) pushing the TV and table across the backdrop of Coney Island, the starkness of the landscape is apparent, but there is a rosiness to the sunlight that speaks of warmth. This is the beginning of Summer, when things look fine and everything is still fresh and calm. After scoring some dope, Harry meets up with Marion (Jennifer Connolly), his long time girlfriend and they proceed to pass some time, make love and do what young people do.

   Meantime, Sara goes down to the beach and retrieves her TV and retires back to her tenement apartment where she's lived since her husband died. All alone now, Sara is a chocoholic (aren't we all?) and loves her TV programs. The one she's hooked on at this time is a form of infomercial run by a character called Tappy Tibbons (Chris MacDonald in an outstanding cameo role) whose catch-cry is JUICE or Join Us In Creating Excellence and who lives by 3 rules (two of which are 1. No red meat and 2. No refined sugar, number 3 you must discover for yourself). Life for Sara is pretty ordinary. She occasionally joins her friends out the front of the tenement but otherwise she lives pretty much on her own, until one day when she receives an anonymous phone call informing her she's been selected to appear on a TV quiz show. Informing her friends, she becomes all excited when the application form comes in the mail and she scurries to send it off quickly. Then her thoughts turn to what to wear when she gets her call from the station. Her decision is to wear her favourite red dress, but this has momentous consequences when she realises she is several (or more) kilos overweight and she begins a diet of grapefruit, one egg and a piece of toast in order to slim down.

   Harry and Tyrone have their own plans to buy some dope and sell it so they don't have to keep pinching Harry's mum's TV for a fix. Their ultimate plan is to buy a 'kilo of pure' and live off the profits and they begin by selling small quantities and collecting enough money to fulfil their dream. Things are good, selling is easy and they think nothing of taking the odd hit here and there, 'just to test the merchandise' of course. Marion is busy planning her new line of clothing for the shops she wants to open and everything looks rosy. Sara meantime is having a few problems with the diet and after talking to her friends visits a doctor who prescribes diet pills to aid in her plans to lose weight. Naturally she has no concept of control and begins popping pills without any regard for what she is doing. As Summer winds down, so do all four characters. What began with such optimism and hope slowly wends its way towards the abyss. Each of the characters slowly loses their sense of reality and the rosiness slowly fades to Fall.

   Fall begins to take its toll on each of the four characters. Sara is becoming delusional, Harry is losing sense of proportion, taking more and more hits, Marion is becoming dependant upon Harry who is also beginning to lose his grip on reality. As times get bleaker, drugs become harder to find and cost more, so they end up dipping into the money they had planned to use to score big-time. Even when they get an opportunity to score big, the dealer they connect with is shot, leaving Tyrone in trouble with the police. Sara is becoming thin, losing weight heavily but she's also become hyperactive and her reality sees her fantasising about being part of Tappy Tibbons' TV show. All the while, her refrigerator is starting to slowly come alive as it is being neglected. The downward spiral is evident and Aronofsky takes great care in slowly devolving each of his characters into shadows of their former selves.

   The final act is Winter, which sees each of them falling into their own version of hell. I can honestly say it's not pleasant what each of them becomes and there was a fair amount of uneasiness watching parts of the last twenty minutes, but it is very well done. Aronofsky certainly pulls no punches and cares nothing about sparing his characters any indignity which adds to the verisimilitude of the events that transpire. If you ever want a film to show kids about the evils of drug abuse, this would qualify as one, as you are spared nothing. Ellen Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for her part in this movie (won by Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich) and it's not hard to see why some people believe it is a pity she didn't win. The other members of the cast are also exceptional and for those of you that desire something that isn't in the typical mold, this is one to get.

Video

    A quality transfer is no less than this movie deservers and that is what it gets. Some minor issues only are the order of the day.

    This is presented in its original theatrical release aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for your enjoyment.

    Light but persistent grain inhabits this movie during most scenes. At no time, though, does it threaten to be any more than a minor issue. The crispness of the movie is more variable, though, and slight blurriness is visible during many scenes. There is minimal edge enhancement in use which was pleasing. Shadow detail is lessened by the general blurriness of the backgrounds where fine detail goes missing during lots of the movie. Most of this was more a directorial/cinematic decision than anything to do with the transfer though, since when something needs to be sharply in focus, sharpness is there in copious quantity. Low level noise was not an issue throughout.

    The colour used in the movie is quite interesting. The only red used was in Sara's dress which was a deliberate effect designed to enhance its presence. All other colours were quite normal in usage with a broad spectrum of colours on offer from light pinks of the summer to blues and other colours for cold and winter. The palette was expertly used for best effect and skin tones maintained a normalcy throughout. Neither chroma noise nor colour bleed was an issue in this transfer.

    Surprisingly there are few if any MPEG, film or video artefacts to speak of. Some slight aliasing on a light fitting at 13:52 is about as bad as it gets and most of the little film blemishes you normally get are confined to slight black marks that do not cause any great annoyance. There were a couple of very fleeting white scratches but nothing reportable. Overall, this is a very well presented transfer.

    There were no subtitles on this disc.

    A more perfect layer change you will not find. It comes during the closing credits at 94:44 where it is welcome to pause as long as it likes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The soundtrack for this movie is in Dolby Digital 5.1 at 384 kilobits per second which is fairly reasonable. The actual sound, though, is exceptional for what it is with plenty of dynamic range on offer and some excellent enveloping features to the music. The fronts offer up a spaciousness which was very welcome, especially with the driving music present throughout. The addition of good subwoofer usage and a generous portion of surround work means that you have an inviting soundtrack through and through.

    The dialogue was so important to the movie, with it lacking any subtitles at all, that it needed to be spot-on and was. No audio syncing problems were noted

    It would probably be fair to say that the Kronos Quartet, who add most of the orchestral pieces for the movie, provide the majority of the soundtrack in terms of background, while Clint Mansell, who is given first billing for the music actually adds in most of the incidental music and then creates an homogenous mix from all the disparate elements. The use of the Kronos Quartet is quite inspired as they don't add the overpowering nature of a full orchestra, but Aronofsky wanted the more subtle elements this group could bring and also to score the more monotonous refrain that permeates the movie (you'll hear it overlaid on the main menu). When more aggressive sound is required, Mansell chimes in with some excellent additional music and techno beats that pump up the volume considerable. All-in-all, this is an excellent music soundtrack with lots of diversity and plenty of character.

   The surrounds are effectively used during the movie but only occasionally will they burst into life and present themselves with excellent immersiveness. For the most part, they are content to sit in the background and add to the music giving a fuller presence to the sound. Only on rare occasions do they become highly active (eg: 51:30). Naturally, much of the movie doesn't require active surround work but they do their job nicely when needed.

    The subwoofer isn't used as consistently as the surrounds since there is little need of its services during long periods of the movie. Actively adding deep bass to the techno music is one of its more useful services but it does lie dormant for much of the movie.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

Audio Commentary

Audio Commentary

Featurette B-Roll - 1.33:1 - 9:38.

    This feature is about the set-up of and the taking of two specific shots in the movie, those being taking the TV to the pawnbrokers and Sarah joining the others outside on the footpath. Interesting perspective from the other side of the camera and how the effects were achieved.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

Interviews-Cast & Crew

• Ellen Burstyn - 1:22
• Jennifer Connelly - 1:35
• Jared Leto - 1:04
• Marlon Wayans - 0:58
• Daron Aronofsky - 1:35
• Eric Watson - 0:57

Featurette-Making Of

Deleted Scenes

• Better off with our moms - 2:01 - extended scene
• Hubert Selby as guard - 2:55 - extended scene
• Not Using - 1:03 - Selby reads the screen play to Burstyn
• On the road to Florida - 3:01 - Wayans ad-libbing before a take
• The Eyes - 0:11 - 3 way split on main characters eyes
• Waiting - 0:39 - 6 way split on the same spot in the movie
• We can stop using - 0:12 - alternate scene
• We've proved we can stop - 0:32 - extended scene

Production Notes

Theatrical Trailer

• Trailer 1 - 1:05, 1.85:1 not 16x9 enhanced
• Trailer 2 - 1:40, 1.85:1 not 16x9 enhanced

Featurette - Memories, Dream and Additions - 1.33:1, 19:44 and Dolby Digital Mono sound

    This is a strange little feature consisting of an interview conducted by Ellen Burstyn with the author of the novel Requiem for a Dream, Hubert Selby about his original work and his life. If I call it strange it's because Selby was definitely a piece of work, full of rage, anger and intelligence even though he left school after the 8th grade. At times you get the feeling that he's going to explode or become violent, but he's a very old man (near death at the time). At other times he's almost crying. The sound was hollow at times and I found myself straining to understand what was being said.

Easter Egg

    There appear to be a couple of differences with this release in Region 1 including menu format. The Region 4 disc misses out on:

• Trailers - two additional TV spots
• Renditions of the web site artwork

    Requiem For A Dream is not an easy movie to watch by any stretch of the imagination unless you enjoy the suffering of others, but it is an important movie because it tells a despairing and dark tale without any excess baggage. Those with delicate sensibilities might want to avoid this. Those with stronger dispositions and who love something a little obtuse might want to give this a look as it's definitely different and so beautifully made it's a testament to both cast and the director.

    The transfer is excellent visually with minor flaws that you need to look for to criticise. Otherwise, this is real film quality in every sense of the word.

    A soft, lilting and monotonous sounding background soundtrack is augmented by some driving techno beats that lift this above the mundane and give added support to the video elements.

    An extras package that is a heavyweight on its own rounds out a superb disc. Two audio commentaries, deleted scenes and various makings-of put this in the quality for money bracket.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall