Requiem For A Dream(2000)

Movie :Requiem For A Dream
Genre :Drama
Director :Darren Aronofsky
Language :English
Duration :102 minutes
Starring : Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn,
Marlon Wayans
IMDB Rank:64

Drugs, addiction, passion, pain, more, more, more, rewind. Have I completed what Darren Aronofsky wanted to say in requiem for a dream? Yes, I have. Period.

As per the tradition, we need to talk about the plot of the movie for a little while and as per habit I will use points to do the same:

1. Movie has 4 addicts to start with.
A. Old widow addicted of sugar and then diet pills.
B. Her young son Harry (Jared Leto), heroin addict.
C. His girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connely), another heroin addict.
D. Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), Harry's friend and partner in crime.
2. As clear from point 1, it revolves around their addictions and their actions towards it.
3. That's all I must reveal story per se.


This movie is a dark and depressing painting, painted using bright colours and on a beautiful canvas. Aronofsky clearly draws a line in this movie and bifurcates it in two surprising contrasts. In the left half, he shows colours, bright ones, ones which are more conducive to get attraction. But the real essence of requiem lies on the right half when the colours begin to fade and darkness begins to capture the screen and more dominantly, the mind. It's one of those movies which hits you hard irrespective of your inclinations towards your temptations, irrespective your presumptions for drugs and irrespective of any form of insulation towards the universe.

The strongest character of the movie is played by Ellen Burstyn, who plays Sarah, an old woman who gets a chance to be on TV and in an attempt to look thinner and wear her old red dress, she starts taking diet pills. Followed by her insane urge towards the moment of her life, she gets hooked to these pills to a killer level. And hallucinations beckons. There are a couple of moments, specially the refrigerator one, that leave you gasping in disbelief.

Jennifer Connelly's work is as awe-inspiring as rest of her movies. She looks pretty, scary, desperate, addict. Pretty much like Ellen, the toughest and most amazing part is during the end. There are difficult acts of desperation and sexual extremity which she does with visible perfection. Jared Leto has to share the protagonist space with the two women discussed above, but he has the most visible screen space.

One word for the soundtracks - terrific. Summer overture has continued to haunt every single time since the first time it passed my ears. Again, one of the scores that stick with the fabric of the movie correctly end to end. The soundtracks are composed by Clint Mansell and performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Another notable thing about the movie is some specific sections:
1. The subtle zippppp drug taking scene, zips you away!
2. Refrigerator scene.
3. Visual Design, Camera Work.
4. TV shows.
5. Harry's arm and the injection.
6. The lift
7. The EYE, the EYE, the EYE.
8. Jennifer Gang Bang and the "Marion Barf's" and the summer overture.


Some of them find this movie too preachy, too depressing, too hyped, too gross. We continue to respect the UAAC, but Requiem is a class act, its a terrific movie with a straight face which to an extent tells A is A. And while we discuss this, I feel it's time for me to revisit the movie for at least one more time. Kudos Darren!

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Bridge on the River Kwai

Director:David Lean
Genre: War
Cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden
Language: English
IMDB Rank- 68



Indians associate war movies more with the mythological warfare as in the battle of Mahabharata in which arrows with mystical powers flow from one side to other. There are also horses and elephants and a row of walking soldiers taking orders from the senapati. Only in the past few decades we have moved to era of Border type movies having tanks and gun fires.Even in Hollywood most of the war movies are full of gun fires , battle tanks , strategies to bring down the enemy. But this movie Bridge on the River Kwai was different from all other and had very few cliches which we normally attach to a war movie.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is one of five films on this site that cover the tumultuous years of the Second World War. The others are Patton , The Great Escape, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. They are part of the larger History in Film web site that supports teaching history using popular films

Simple story; Col Nicholson wants to maintain the dignity of British army by making a great bridge and other party wants to destroy the bridge. Whole movie is around this magnificent gripping suspenseful story with beautiful picturesque scenic backgrounds. There are three main characters in the movie Colonel Nicholson, Colonel Saito and Shears.

Even though the film is a classic and is loved by many film fans but it caused considerable stress to real life Colonel Nicholson and river Kwai veterans as the incidents are grossly misrepresented. Real Colonel endured regular beatings when he complained of ill-treatment of prisoners, but as a skilled negotiator he was able to win many concessions from the Japanese by convincing them that this would speed the completion of the work. Behind their backs, however, he did everything possible to delay and sabotage the construction without endangering his men, and also helped organize a daring escape, at considerable cost to himself.

Colonel Nicholson
He carried himself through the whole film beautifully. He was loved by all his regiment men, he instilled faith in his team and through his negotiation skills was able to get the best for his team. He also made Saito men work in same environment and for the same time.

Colonel Nicholson: Now, there's another important decision that can't be postponed. As most of the British soldiers will be working on the bridge, only a small number will be available for railway work. So, I must ask you, Colonel Saito, to lend us some of your own men to reinforce the railway gang, so that the final stretch of track can be completed as quickly as possible.
Colonel Saito: I have already given the order.
Colonel Nicholson: We must fix the daily work quota for your men. At first I thought of setting it at a yard and a half, so as not to overtire them, but don't you think it would be best if we make it the same as the British soldiers? That would also create a healthy competitive spirit.
Colonel Saito: I have already given the order.

Colonel Saito
He is different, you will not find such a lenient colonel in a prisoners camp. He at times is crazy at Nicholson for accepting the punishment and at times in awe of the British colonel. You will hate him for what he is doing.


Cmdr. Shears:

I'd say the odds against a successful escape are about 100 to one. But may I add another word, Colonel? The odds against survival in this camp are even worse.

He manages to escape with sheer grit, luck and determination but later on the return to the bridge again is his only way to escape the bridge.

He has some fantastic dialogues like the one:

You make me sick with your heroics! There's a stench of death about you. You carry it in your pack like the plague. Explosives and L-pills - they go well together, don't they? And with you it's just one thing or the other: destroy a bridge or destroy yourself. This is just a game, this war! You and Colonel Nicholson, you're two of a kind, crazy with courage. For what? How to die like a gentleman... how to die by the rules - when the only important thing is how to live like a human being.

I enjoyed the lovely whistling tune known as Colonel Bogey March sung by the marching soldiers . Listen to it below:

Its not a movie review of a great movie. I just want to remind you of the great movie which you all must watch. What are you thoughts on this great movie??

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Into the wild

Early days with this blog, so its imminent that I will come up movies I like to talk about the most and hence 'Into the wild'. And before we open the shutters for comments on someone not so open for them, let's have some lines said by him:

“The sea’s only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don’t know much about the sea, but I do know that that’s the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.” - Alexandar Supertramp.

I wanted to check what is the correct-est word that can be used to discuss the condition of the protagonist Christopher McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, and all I can think of is 'tranquil - Not agitated; without losing self-possession'. This may contradict with the visible theory of losing his posession but nonetheless, it's the truth. For those who have not seen the movie, let me brief the plot a bit. Into the wild is a real life story of a graduate from Emroy University, who decides to abandon his possessions, his SSN, his money (some $24K) donated to charity and moves out, riding to Alaska just to live 'Into the wild'.

The core of this Sean Penn directed movie is 'Absolute Freedom' and the quest to find it. The movie has a few extreme moments when he moves into a complete nomad mode, he shots a moose dead, takes out his heart (correct me if i am wrong!) does activities with it and regrets it at the end of it. He tries to get all the wisdom from the books he reads (other than his delusive thought process) and gets the motivation to call things by their appropriate name; and then he’s off to the jungle weeds again, calling them by their appropriate scientific names. Moves to Mexico, water way, illegally. I think to provide a feel of the movie, it makes most sense to quote some talks from the movie

Christopher McCandless(him): You're just living, man. You're just there, in that moment, in that special place and time. Maybe when I get back, I can write a book about my travels. Wayne: Yeah. Why not? him: You know, about getting out of this sick society. Society! Wayne: [coughs] Society! Society! him: Society, man! You know, society! Cause, you know what I don't understand? I don't understand why people, why every fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often. It doesn't make sense to me. Judgment. Control. All that, the whole spectrum. Well, it just... Wayne: What "people" we talking about? him: You know, parents, hypocrites, politicians, pricks. Wayne: [tapping Chris' head] This is a mistake. It's a mistake to get too deep into all that kind of stuff. Alex, you're a hell of a young guy, a hell of a young guy. But I promise you this. You're a young guy! Can't be juggling blood and fire all the time! [laughs]
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him: Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp May 1992
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him: It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west.

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him: I'm supertramp.
[looks at apple]
him: and you're super apple!

Eddie Vedder injects more life into the movie, amazing music. The music sounds more beautiful because of its suitability with the flow of the movie and also because of its spontanity. Be it the provoking lyrics of 'society' showing disbelief, rather disinterst in society or the fluent and freedom-probing 'guranteed' or the-world-is-my-home themed 'no ceiling', the music is very appealing during the movie and also post watch.

Verdict: Again as I said in opening, a movie I love to talk about, and I strongly recommend. One of the 13 movies to get a 10 on 10 rating in my IMDB movie list. If you haven't yet thought about it, think and watch it before you get too old. Cheers Supertramp.

Image Source: Sfondi

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