Current Events > I re-watched Requiem for a Dream and woof

(+) Yeah! (+)

I used to say it was a good film that I just disliked because how poorly it fleshed out the younger characters, how hard it tried and failed to be edgy, and how much the mom overacted near the end.

My stance changed slightly. I still think the characters were very poorly fleshed out, I think a few scenes were done well (like the refrigerator scene), the mom actually did a good job at acting until the electro-shock therapy, and the quick cuts were an okay idea. But otherwise wow. Jared Leto's accent was so bad, and his acting was kind of a disappointment. There was slightly more characterization but still hardly any. A lot of the shots and editing were so fucking bad and lame - like the constant fish-eye lenses, shots from in front of the character that looked like a selfie-stick, and the constant speeding up. It was sooo bad.

My stance changed from "A well made movie that tried way too hard and I don't like," to "an okay movie at best that I still don't like."

My girlfriend is actually mad at me for wasting her time and making her watch it, instead of being shocked or sad - like boring people like to claim the film does.

bump

Movie is great.

It's like a massive "Don't do Drugs" commercial with all the fake emotional scare tactics

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2000 was a garbage year for American movies. George Washington and Bamboozled are easily the highlights.

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chitown82 posted...

Movie is great.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


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The only "shocking" thing in the movie was when he inserted the needle in his infection

I just need to add, too, that the soundtrack was sooo whack in this film. It's overly dramatic even before anything happens, and a lot of it is just kind of tonally weird.

DuranOfForcena posted...

ass to ass

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Exactly. The book did not mention ass to ass. I swear Aronofsky added it just to try and be edgy and shock, and I don't think it's shocking. It was clearly more funny than shocking - which is why it's memeworthy now.

You know what I rewatched on Netflix recently, and still absolutely love? Eternal Sunshine.

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Flockaveli posted...

You know what I rewatched on Netflix recently, and still absolutely love? Eternal Sunshine.

Funny story! I literally just re-watched it, too.
My gf's friend and I were talking about our most hated movies, and he'd mentioned Eternal Sunshine and I mentioned Requiem. My girlfriend was curious to watch both, so we did.
I kind of group both films together as hyped up, early '00s films that everybody listed on their Myspace pages. But Eternal Sunshine is so much fucking better that it's not even funny. There's great writing in Eternal Sunshine, great editing and visuals, a great soundtrack, great acting, and a suuper intelligent and confusing timeline - plus some good messages/themes. That's far more than I can say about Requiem.

I'm actually legitimately surprised how well Eternal Sunshine holds up. Definitely the best "quirky" indie film of that time period.

Eternal Sunshine is getting a 4K Blu-ray release next year. I'm pretty stoked about that, it absolutely holds up and Charlie Kaufman's work in general is some of the best stuff in American film of the past twenty-something years.

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Wow You went from talking about one of the worst contemporary movies to one of the best

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I can appreciate what it did, but "Look how horrible this is." just isn't a good art style.

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chitown82 posted...

Movie is great.

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indica posted...

Wow You went from talking about one of the worst contemporary movies to one of the best

I don't get it? Which are you saying is the worst, and which one the best?

SquirtleSkwad posted...

I can appreciate what it did, but "Look how horrible this is." just isn't a good art style.

I'm totally fine with depressing films. I love shock cinema. I love melodrama. I love it when something manages to be both.
But I don't think this film was really effective at either.

Like I'm legitimately shocked because I honestly used to think it was a well made movie that I just so happened to dislike due to some directorial decisions.
But no - I don't even think it's a well made movie. If I had to call one film in the history of film pretentious -- it'd be Requiem.

Never liked it, Pi on the other hand is brilliant

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DuranOfForcena posted...

ass to ass