Requiem for a Dream
1 Oscar Nominations
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
What critics thought
Aronofsky's portrait of addiction earns genuine admiration for its performances and relentless visual invention, but critics were sharply divided over whether the filmmaking serves the story or overwhelms it — enthusiasts call it a harrowing plunge into dependency's seductive logic, while detractors hear a one-note symphony of doom dressed up in flashy technique. Audience regard has only grown since release, widening the gap between the film's warmer popular reputation and the more measured critical response it initially received.
“hypnotically harrowing and intense, a visual and spiritual plunge into seduction and terror”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“how well [Aronofsky] portrays the mental states of his addicts...a window opens briefly into a world where everything is right. Then it slides shut.”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
“the filmmaking gets addicted to its own flashy cynicism...seems as dazed and confused as the situations it wants to criticize”
David Sterritt·Christian Science Monitor
“Aronofsky hurls the full grammar of the cinema at us like a film student on an adrenaline rush: slow-motion, fast-forward, jump cuts, surreal fantasy sequences, endless glaring close-ups of dilating pupils, bizarre hand-held tracking shots.”
William Arnold·Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorDarren Aronofsky
StarringEllen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald
ComposerClint Mansell
Requiem for a Dream
1 Oscar Nominations
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
What critics thought
Aronofsky's portrait of addiction earns genuine admiration for its performances and relentless visual invention, but critics were sharply divided over whether the filmmaking serves the story or overwhelms it — enthusiasts call it a harrowing plunge into dependency's seductive logic, while detractors hear a one-note symphony of doom dressed up in flashy technique. Audience regard has only grown since release, widening the gap between the film's warmer popular reputation and the more measured critical response it initially received.
“hypnotically harrowing and intense, a visual and spiritual plunge into seduction and terror”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“how well [Aronofsky] portrays the mental states of his addicts...a window opens briefly into a world where everything is right. Then it slides shut.”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
“the filmmaking gets addicted to its own flashy cynicism...seems as dazed and confused as the situations it wants to criticize”
David Sterritt·Christian Science Monitor
“Aronofsky hurls the full grammar of the cinema at us like a film student on an adrenaline rush: slow-motion, fast-forward, jump cuts, surreal fantasy sequences, endless glaring close-ups of dilating pupils, bizarre hand-held tracking shots.”
William Arnold·Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorDarren Aronofsky
StarringEllen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald
ComposerClint Mansell