Requiem for a Dream (2000)

: Mashed Potato

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn, Marlon Wayans

I wish I could say I liked this film, but I didn’t. It was nominated for many awards, including the Best Actress Oscar nomination for Ellen Burstyn, who did turn in a great performance, but I just couldn’t get into it. It just felt like a crazy version of another movie about drugs and the havoc they wreak on your life. I kept waiting for a story to emerge, but it never did. It just followed the lead characters through their shitty lives as addicts, demonstrating what terrible choices people make for the sake of their addictions. Maybe that was enough for most fans, since the film received so many accolades, but I wanted more. Interestingly, I also wanted less…less cliché’ for sure, but also less willingness to go too far. There is a scene in which Jennifer Connelly’s character predictably uses sex to get her drugs and, in my opinion, they went too far and it was just gross. Although the performances are good and the soundtrack is edgy and cool, I can’t say they whipped up a tasty recipe; it was too lumpy and tasteless for me.

-PotatoPatti