"Requiem for a Dream" (2000)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Producer: Eric Watson

Writer: Hubert Selby Jr.

Distributor: Artisan entertainment

"Now we come to step three. This... drives... most... people... crazy. "

Every single one of us copes with some sort of addictive nature during our short time on Earth. For some it's the cliche' recreational drug, other people get into the hard stuff. Some people indulge dangerously into food, some into their immense stashes of pornography, while others cut their skin for the rush of feeling human again. Video games give us the sensation of reward and it has scientifically been proven to lead to addictive nature, as with pass times like pornography. There's always something we choose to center a certain section of our lives around because it either breaks the monotonous routine of daily life or gives us a "high." In Requiem for a Dream we follows the lives of four people, all connected by love, family and friendship. Each one slipping into an addiction that ultimately leads to one of the most bleak, disturbing and saddening endings in motion cinema history. What's amusing is, even though the film centers around drug abuse, it's really not about being an after school special. It's more than that. Much more.

From the start we are introduced to heroin addict Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) and his sympathetic elderly mother Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn). Harry is in the middle of "acquiring" his mother's television set in order to pawn it off for some drug money at a local market. Right off the bat there's a heavy smog in the air of this film, it reeks of emotional intensity. Harry belittling his mother because she doesn't want him to take the television set away, while she hides herself in the bedroom, behind a locked door; holding a cross necklace and saying to herself that everything is alright, "In the end, it's all nice." It's indicated in the first fifteen minutes of the film that both Harry and his mother have a routine addiction. In Harry's case it's made obvious; heroin, with the side routine of stealing his mother's television on a weekly basis. With Sara, we're given a (in the scheme of things) subtle hint that she's a little too addicted to the boob tube. What's interesting is how Aronofsky pulls your leg and makes the viewer think that the television is her main focal addiction but it ends up being a stealthy catalyst into something much worse. Harry's joined in the hallway of the apartment complex by his near stereotypical black stoner buddy, Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans). Luckily, enough proper direction was given to Marlon and from it we got a very good performance throughout; a pleasant surprise.

After a beautifully directed opening sequence we're introduced to Harry's girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly). Their unimaginably tight bond, ocean deep love is heavily focused on during every single scene they are in for the first third of the film. In fact, the entirety of the first third of the film is labeled "Summer" and presented as a wonderland of opportunity, happiness and the happiness of youth. Sara get's a call from a cable station saying that she's won a blind lottery for getting onto a television show. Harry, Tyrone and Marion have put themselves into a drug circle that is bringing in tremendous amounts of cash and now Marion/Harry are able to start their own clothing businesses while Tyrone is settling down happily in his apartment with a beautiful girlfriend. Everything goes right. Everything adds up. Everything feels so perfect that nothing could possibly shake the foundation. That's how it's perceived but not only does the rest of the film literally tear every last bit of youth, hope, innocence and light from these people's lives but even in the beginning, you start to notice a very sad irony. These people are only happy under the influence of their own addiction.

At first I thought I was missing the point but whenever Harry and Marion were on screen together, they would go under the affects of heroin and THEN begin to act painfully in love. There's no indication that the love is there outside of their addiction. Before any sort of deep affection is shown, they have to go into their land of addictive relief. Harry at one point visits his mother and has a sad realization that he's been a terrible son. So on the cab ride home he begins to sob uncontrollably and almost instantly he shoots up and everything is alright again. This theme is persistent through the entire first portion of the film but what's really terrifying is it creeps up on you. At first you don't really notice this but then it becomes more apparent and that's when the unsettling mood sets in. It's almost like Aronofsky was preparing his audience for what was to come or maybe, he was just saying that this is how it was all along.

On the flip side we have Sara, who has become lonely due to her husband's passing several years prior and her son's erratic, selfish behavior. After the phone call from the cable station she focuses heavily on her appearance; figuring out how to look and what to wear when the big day comes. She eventually decides to try and fit into a slim, red dress that she wore to Harry's high school graduation. Another piece of the catalyst. Her lack of slim shape leads to seeking the help of neighboring tenants on the subject of weight loss. Though a rational route is taken at first, dieting, she begins to feel the pressure of hunger. Her refrigerator quite literally...calls to her. So to the doctor she goes, who is quick to prescribe her a sequence of speed based medications "Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening and green at night." Her brand new routine.

The movie gets to a certain point where fates "meet" and everybody is pretty much at the same point into their little journey. The happiness has faded but hey, things will get better and everything will be okay. There's nothing to worry about. The cable station will eventually call Sara back with more information, right? Harry and Marion will get enough money to keep their businesses going, right? Tyrone will move up the ladder in his drug circle and make his girlfriend happy, right? The film literally plays this way. Happiness >>> Redemption >>>> Hope >>>> Despair >>>> Suffering >>>> Realization. There's plenty in between to fill the meaty sections of character development and viewer involvement with the plot. All of the in betweens are good because it really helps the viewer get on the same level with these characters; something Aronofsky loves to do (i.e Black Swan and The Wrestler). He wants you to actually feel the broad range of emotions the characters are shifting through every single moment. And you do. Oh you really, really do. More than you really want to.

The entire story is a disturbing look into people who are controlled by what makes them happy, what gives them a sensation of purpose. It shows what some are willing to do for their obsession and who gets hurt in the process. Some might take this simply as "drugs are bad" but that is far, far, faaaaar from the point. We're given the inevitable fact that when we let our addictions or obsessions completely control our lives, it leads to disastrous and usually irreversible consequences. What's really saddening is there's also the other end of the spectrum that is shown. These people only wanted what could make them happy and they fought hard for it but in the end, they were left with nothing. It's a really twisted aspect of reality that might be hard for many to swallow. Which is why this movie its so close to home for so many.

Storyline-wise that's as far as I can go. There's plenty I didn't touch upon (plenty) and the emotional ride can only be fully understood by actually watching the film. I'll say one thing though....it's haunting. It wrecked me emotionally and I'm still not over the aftermath. You're going to come out of this moving hating it, even if you loved it. Why? Because there's no saving grace that lifts up the tears from the viewers to say "Hey, everything is okay now." None. Every last millisecond is bleak. Pitch....black....bleak. And no, there's not a happy ending....happy beginning in the reality of things or a happy in between. I say this because some people are easily emotionally broken by certain kinds of movies. There are many who don't want to be emotionally scarred because of a film. So that's your disclaimer.

Technically, it's marvelous. There's heavy use of cut shots, slow motion and audio mixing to not only give the euphoric sensation of a high but also the isolated, nightmare feeling of crashing and hitting rock bottom. Clint Mansell composed an original score that also compliments the emotions to a tee. By now I'm sure a majority of people have heard the star track of the same name; "A Requiem for a Dream". The song is used a lot throughout the runtime and at first I thought I'd be really sick of it but then when I figured out why it was being used and when, it felt masterfully placed. Every image is haunting. The whole beginning of the film feels like a dream, playing off that sensation of Summertime happiness. Where everything is going right. Then during the in between there's a vague sense of dream and being awake. A misty mix. And throughout the finale, there's a heavy load of realism. Coming down off that high and seeing the destruction. Every actor gave an excellent performance, especially Jennifer Connelly and Ellen Burstyn. Everybody else did a phenomenal job as well but those two stuck with me particularly. But it really is hard to give credit to only some of the actors. They all carried their character's on their backs and gave it everything they possibly could, it shows tremendously.

"A Requiem for a Dream" has made it to my list of most inspiring, favorite and emotionally draining films of all time. Like "Mulholland Dr.", "Thirteen", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Changeling", we're left with the opposite of mainstream media; life's a bitch. Even when we strive for happiness there's always the chance that not everything will go our way. The question is, if it doesn't go our way, how do we handle it? Do we take the last resort and gamble our chances of turning out like Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Sara or do we take a different path? But what if that path is destructive as well? Like I said, it's bleak and makes you think when it isn't making you want to vomit or cry.

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009)

Rating: NR

Director: David Russo

Writer: David Russo

"Unfortunately I got raped with a cookie by a major corporation and was left to have my blue scaled baby in a restroom."

Welcome to "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle" and the most awkward feeling you'll ever get after a film.

In the most unbelievably ridiculous nutshell, this film is about a group of janitors who are unwillingly made test subjects for an experimental cookie, which holds a chemical that is supposed to give you the satisfaction of a warm, home baked treat in every bite. The side affects cause the males in the janitorial group of rag tag Seattle (the film was created by Seattleites and is shot on location)"artistic types" to anally give birth to a creature that I can only describe as half fish, half salamander. You'd think with a premise like that, no one could ever possibly enjoy the film. Even a gander at IMDB reveals a 5.9/10 rating and since the movie is 100% indie film, you don't have a rived up discussion board to cross examine points with. It's kind of a lonely feeling, walking away from "Little Dizzle". You begin to realize that there aren't too many people out there who have seen it and if you ever tried to talk about it, you might just lose a friendship. There's no easy way to really discuss the film and its content but I can honestly say it was enjoyable and I liked some of the themes.

We're introduced to our main character, Dory (Marshall Allman), from the get go. A point I'd like to make before I continue though; is it not odd that our main protagonist is named "Dory" and the film is about blue fish coming from the colons of male janitors? Not sure Disney would enjoy the subconscious connection some folks might get. Dory is standing along a rocky beach, looking out along the horizon at Puget Sound, when a message in a bottle comes floating up to him. Eager to retrieve this mysterious object, Dory leans in and falls straight into the water. Luckily he's able to grab the bottle and pull himself out, allowing for a closer inspection of this rarely found treasure. Sad to say, the only thing inside the bottle is a piece of paper with "Fuck you" written in marker. Something we learn about Dory later than sooner, is that he isn't satisfied with life and feels put upon from the world. There seems to be that cliche' emptiness inside of him and throughout the story his main focus of self discovery is trying out different religions. There's even a point where we see him reading a "for Dummies" edition of Buddhism. Needless to say, falling into a freezing cold Puget Sound, only to retrieve a middle finger in a bottle, sends Dory right over the edge.

This leads into a scene of Dory quitting his tech job due to his inability to handle the mediocrity of life caving in on him, that sets the tone for the rest of the film. A sort of "in retrospect sadness" but over the top hilarity and horror-esque crudeness that never lets up. The scene of Dory's psychotic departure from his company really encompasses the tone; anger, laughter, immaturity, violence, rage, shock and psychedelic imagery. For a film about anal fish, the themes and imagery are far too in-depth. It kind of sickens me. Dory is then given a hint at a possible career opportunity via a (now ex) co-worker, as janitor. Initially he waves this idea away because it's obviously so beneath his inner genius. Though a day or so later the inevitable fact of debt and bills creeps upon him and its now off to get a job, regardless of how degrading. Because as Dory's conscious via a computer program states "Do you have a better solution?" or something along that line.

It's at this point that we're introduced to the rest of the team. You've got OC (Vince Vieluf), the overly eccentric and vulgar, pre-teen mindset, starving artist type with a twist of sheer stupidity. A character straight out of any typical teen comedy from the 90s/early 2000s whose small glimpse of know-it-all street (janitor) smarts makes him tolerable and nearly lovable. Then there's Ethyl (Tania Raymonde) and her boyfriend Methyl (Tygh Runyan), who are both the hardcore punk, meth eating, out of their minds couple whose favorite pass-time seems to be having raunchy sex on the desks of the buildings they clean. Then you've got the leader and founder of the janitorial company, Weird William (Richard Lefebvre). Possibly the strangest character of the group and sadly, has the least amount of scenes. He's kind of a borderline Vietnam veteran (Desert Storm in Will's case); a little kooky and out of his mind but as you watch his character unwind you know he was robbed of what made him a person during battle. It's hard to give the characters applause in this film because they honestly don't do much for it besides being really zany and making crude jokes whenever possible. You begin to love Dory and OC but even their shticks become a little repetitive. The acting wasn't anything to be revered and even at the end of the film I didn't have a connection with the characters. When one of them is lying on the bathroom floor in agonizing pain, I didn't feel empathy for their misfortune. I just wanted to know what happens next.

That is what made this movie work, it keeps you guessing. From the very moment you see Dory walk into the bathroom stall of the building they regularly work and see a heaping mess of blue gunk in the toilet, you want to know the rest. It's disgusting and the imagery might turn some people off but you can't help but want to know. It keeps the viewer trapped in its own realm. You don't see the outside world and the filmmakers did a great job at making Seattle seem like this desolate place. A big part of the atmosphere came from the majority of the film taking place at night and not allowing the characters to stray too far from the plot's purpose. There's a constant pace and even when one character isn't doing anything particularly interesting, another is and interacting with another character or forwarding the dreamlike plot.

But you know what? Forget the actors and the majority of the dialogue because neither aspect gets any merit from me. Even the atmosphere doesn't always hold up due to the mind numbingly vulgar shit jokes that tend to rain down on the viewer. Regardless, I got something out of this movie because what I saw was multiple themes of human nature and suffering. Dory for example. Throughout the entire film we see the main character struggle with his near worthlessness in life and the idea that reality comes with a heavy toll that you can never really shake from your shoulders. It all starts with the message in the bottle and spins his sanity out of control. Then things seem to pick up for him as he makes a group of close companions through his janitorial job. Things seem great but then the mind altering cookies of science come into play and as the side affects come into play everything goes downhill at a fast rate. During this downward spiral, Dory is using religious beliefs to try and find a path into some sort of salvation. Even though it becomes apparent that he doesn't have any deep seeded beliefs, he needs to find one because without SOMETHING, he's got nothing to distract him from the imminent horizon of suffering.

Then there's the element of only males feeling the side affects of the cookies, therefore they are the only ones who anally give birth to these creatures. On top of that really disturbing biological side affect, the cookies also have hallucinatory properties. The male characters begin to see things, begin to freak out uncontrollably, have sudden dietary urges and even get threshold breaking abdominal pains. After each of them gives birth, all of their problems seem so small because they just released this small, defenseless and alien creature into the world. Only to have them die moments later. The humbling experience of birth affecting men was really fascinating to me. You can't help but bust your gut in laughter during some of the scenes but, typically when the hallucinations are involved, there are some really dark and disturbing scenes that portray the feeling of pain and isolation during pregnancy. The feeling of unknown territory for new mothers and the terrifying aspect of wondering what is happening to your body.

The good parts of this film are REALLY good and I do no justice to the deeper elements the filmmakers tried to convey. I felt robbed at the end because logically, it made no sense but again, blue anal fish, right? Not sure what I was expecting, so maybe its just me. I think most people will understand the end and get the message that came across but I simply felt like it was a little too "indie film". Beyond that, the acting is mediocre, the directing is really good because the pace stays steady and there's never a dull moment. There's some beautiful imagery and really haunting scenes that you'd expect out of a Lynch film. It's not a great film but it isn't bad either. All I know is that for a film with such a ridiculous subject matter, I find myself attracted to it and wouldn't mind another viewing to soak in all the wayward emotions. I'd truthfully recommended this to people who want something different in terms of story and atmosphere but familiar in terms of comedy and characters.

Tangled (2010)

Rating: [PG]

Director: Byron Howard

Producer: John Lasseter

Writer: Dan Fogelman

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

"Look at the detail on the water!" "Oh my gosh, the hair looks so realistic!" "The textures are breathtaking!" "Her eyes actually look irritated when she cries!" "All the movements are so smooth and realistic!" "Think Dreamworks knows how hopeless it is to fight back at this point?"

Disney likes to show off. Welcome to "Rapun--" I mean... "Tangled".

Set in the renaissance age, "Tangled" is a re-hashed version of the well known fairy-tale "Rapunzel", heavily based off the Brothers Grimm adaptation. Within a nameless land there rests a nameless kingdom that is run by, as expected, a nameless king and queen who are about to receive their first born child. The queen becomes dangerously ill during her pregnancy though and so the king has every man at his disposal search for the legendary golden flower whose powers are said to heal all illness and wounds. Little known to the king and queen, the flower had been discovered some time ago by a wicked old hag named Gothel (Donna Murphy), who has kept the flower hidden on the outskirts of the kingdom's forest since she discovered it. One evening Gothel carelessly leaves the flower unprotected and the royal guards happen to come upon its location, quickly unearthing it and hurrying back to the castle. A potion is made for the queen, given to her and the illness disappears, leaving the queen to give birth to a beautiful baby girl with golden hair; Rapunzel (Mandy Moore).

Gothel then proceeds to to kidnap the child because plot development requires that she know about the golden flower's powers transferring to a fetus. Which hit me as a little bit more than odd considering the audience is told its required to sing to the golden flower in order for its magical properties to be unleashed and whenever you wanted to summon its powers you had to sing to it again. Yet the queen was able to have the flower dropped into a bowl of water and ingested, somehow having the same affect. Then it happens to go through her blood stream and into her unborn child who grows up to have magical hair that has to be activated by....singing. My wife explained to me that Gothel was using the flower specifically to keep herself young over the course of hundreds of years and that digesting the flower could have a different affect. That would sit well with me except for the flower's abilities being activated via digestion. Maybe the king sang to her pregnant belly after she ate it, I don't know. This wasn't originally part of the Rapunzel stories to begin with and overall its an interesting exposition but feels...silly.

Anyway, the king and queen spend several years searching for their missing child but have no luck. After the search is abandoned the kingdom makes a ritual out of releasing thousands of lanterns into the sky on Rapunzel's birthday in hopes that it will guide her home. Though why they would give up and throw lanterns into the air is beyond me. Could have done both but okay. Flash forward in time and we're introduced to seventeen, going on eighteen, Rapunzel who is becoming sick of living in her hidden tower and wishes to be taken to the source of the "floating stars" that appear annually on her birthday because she feels as though they are connected to her. Gothel, being the cliche'd surrogate mother that she is, refuses and exclaims that she will be locked in the tower forever. A little bit before this though we are introduced to the walking cliche' known as Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi). He's just gotten finished stealing a plot device tiara from the palace and now has several handfuls of guards on his tail. This leads him to discovering Rapunzel's tower and how this was possible for a lone thief and not several years of searching by trained palace guards and possibly the entire kingdom......WHO KNOWS!

It's at this point that Rapunzel confronts Flynn with a skillet, locks him in a closet whilst he's unconscious, gets Gothel to leave for three days and proceeds to blackmail Flynn into taking her to see the floating lights. I won't divulge any further because its spoilers and I've also reached my "that was in the trailers" limit. Rapunzel's character is very well played and I was surprised at how well Moore did at projecting the innocence and playful curiosity onto the screen. She's got spunk but also has restraint considering her lack of contact with the outside world. I really liked that Disney was able to make a character who actually had multiple dimensions to their personality. She was not only naturally terrified of a world she'd never been into but also very zealous in achieving her goal. A very lovable character who's easy to relate to and who actually feels like a person that changes with their surroundings.

Beyond that we have a cast of cardboard cutouts. You've got one dimensions all over the map, from: badass-always-cunning-you'll-hate-me-now-but-love-me-later-butt-of-the-jokes-expert-thief Flynn to evil-pretends-to-be-nice-has-goals-of-her-own-and-they-are-so-dastardly-straight-out-of-Cinderella Gothel to a horse and a chameleon who both serve no purpose in the film other than to make silly faces and draw the attention of the camera whenever possible in order to put ease onto the abundance of lull moments in the film. That was the most disappointing aspect of the characters, actually. Typically I like silly sidekicks in Disney films but these two were abundantly worthless. They literally served no purpose except for cheap laughs. Heck, the chameleon is literally only given acknowledgment of his existence when needed as a inaudible laugh track. The film would have been a lot less cringe worthy if the sidekicks weren't present this time around.

Flynn was the other big disappointment. He was a one liner and it never let up. Even by the end of the film where the creators pulled the very over used "you're going to love me now because I learned so much off camera" stunt, he wasn't enjoyable. Not because he's made out to be a selfish womanizer at first and not because his new and improved self comes off as extremely lazy but because he was just.so.boring. Everything that came out of his mouth was a slapstick attempt at humor that grew to be very irritating. He's like a more mellowed out, human version of Mushu who has a persistent ego trip. Very hollow development all around that left me feeling like I didn't care about anything that happened to most of the characters.

The film is a musical, for those that didn't know. The ad campaigns definitely strayed away from giving this away to audiences. Which seems odd to me because the songs were one of the only parts of the film I truly enjoyed. So I'm sitting there for an hour and forty minutes and whenever a song finishes I think "How in the world did a script with such sloppy and overplayed storytelling get such a great Disney style score?" Well the credits answered that one for me; Alan Menken. He did all of the music and boy did it feel like Alan Menken. The songs felt very "return to form" Disney and even though they weren't the catchiest or most memorable songs in existence, they had a very fitting and magical feeling to them. Sort of like what Disney did with "Enchanted"; gave us songs that weren't going to be part of most children's nostalgic childhood but they complemented the film very well and made us happy. The score is the same deal, excellent. It fit the epic fairy tale mood and blended in to the film, loved it. Might actually get myself to obtain the soundtrack because, who doesn't love Alan Menken's work?

The CG. My goodness. This movie looked breathtakingly beautiful and for a while I could hardly believe Disney was the company to conceive this film (though a look at the credits shows that Pixar had a heavy hand in the production). The textures! THE TEXTURES! The water. The hair. The eyes! The eyes, when someone would cry you could actually see the water slowly develop, the pupils change shape and the blood vessels appear. Everything had such an explicit attention to detail that I swear if you muted the film and played certain sections in loops, you might soil yourself from the sheer beauty. Granted, not everything looked excellent but the environment blew my mind. The grass, the flowers, the trees, the clothes, the buildings, the sky, the lighting, the paper on the lanters and everything, everything looked phenomenal. I swear the only reason Disney released this film was to say "Look what we can do. Look forward to it." I have to say that kids will love this film and for anybody else who doesn't, at least you'll have the visuals to entrance you. That's what I did during the boring moments, I lost myself in the film's aura. The eye thing, that really impressed me. I know that probably sounds extremely silly but you'd have to see it. Oh man were my eyes on fire.

The ending was a disappointment as well. There was a chance for the film to redeem itself in terms of emotional development but instead we get a cop out that is sort of borrowed from the original tale of Rapunzel. It's just too irritating to handle because you feel emotionally robbed when the creators tug at your heart strings and then play the "just kidding, this is a kids movie, duh!" card. To be fair though, there are some good emotional moments in the film. There's a scene in the later half of the film that shows the king and queen mourning on the day of Rapunzel's birth. Nothing is said, not a word and yet it brought me to tears while I heard the people next to my wife and I say "That is so sad.". There's a lot of good moments between Rapunzel and Gothel, including a very Disney-Menken style song between the two called "Mother Knows Best" which was a lot of fun.

In the end the animation, the graphics and Rapunzel herself keep this movie from being somebody dragging you through the land of Dull by your teeth. Every single character beyond Rapunzel is a dull, overused cliche' and the animal sidekicks are silent, worthless, cheap laughs that only serve as a very obvious marketing ploy for the kids and fangirls/boys. The story itself has interesting moments but they all seem to be moments that are borrowed from the original story. Anything Disney added in on their own is lazy and that laziness leads to way too many moments of downtime or slow pacing that aren't unbearable, just no fun. As I said before, kids will love this movie and I suggest taking them. Its got the formula to appeal to so many people and I think that regardless of what I or anyone else says, to see it if you're interested. There's enough fun to get you through it even if you come out feeling the way I did. Beyond that though, I couldn't get myself to enjoy the film for what it is because what it is, -is- lackluster. I still love Disney though. I just hope they do better next time.