Felt like I'd stumbled across an experimental student film on the dark web.
What could've been a thoughtful, haunting look into the many facets of drug addiction turned out to be shock value overdosed on arty chaos.
While I understand and applaud Aronofsky's boldness and creativity, he relied too heavily on this avant-garde style, namely in the technical aspects, which lacked finesse and became memorable for all the wrong reasons.
The mother's storyline, played well by Ellen Burstyn, stood out against the blandness that was every other character, offering the most weighty and engaging moments of the film.
I would've much rathered her be the entire focus.
But, alas, Requiem for a Dream didn't give me much of what I wanted or what it had been hyped up to be, so at least it was consistent ... consistently underwhelming.
What could've been a thoughtful, haunting look into the many facets of drug addiction turned out to be shock value overdosed on arty chaos.
While I understand and applaud Aronofsky's boldness and creativity, he relied too heavily on this avant-garde style, namely in the technical aspects, which lacked finesse and became memorable for all the wrong reasons.
The mother's storyline, played well by Ellen Burstyn, stood out against the blandness that was every other character, offering the most weighty and engaging moments of the film.
I would've much rathered her be the entire focus.
But, alas, Requiem for a Dream didn't give me much of what I wanted or what it had been hyped up to be, so at least it was consistent ... consistently underwhelming.