Elwood's Essential's #8: Requiem For A Dream

Title: Requiem For A Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Released: 2000

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Mark Margolis, Keith David, Seasn Gullette, Hubert Selby, Jr.

Plot: Charting four Coney Island residents and their pursuit of their own vision of happiness, only to soon find their individual addictions leading them into a nightmarish downward spiral.

 

Review: I first saw this film back when I was in college, which is also really where I first seriously started studying film. It was around this same time that having turned 18 I spent most of that birthday joining every video library I could to further my cinematic tastes, beyond the films I was taping off late night TV let alone my already established lusts for Godzilla and Asian cinema which I’d been steadily building on since I first figured out how to use my parents video player. It was amongst these early jaunts into less mainstream cinema that I came across this film which I think I rented along with Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” in what would certainly turnout to be an eye opening double bill.

Since that original viewing though this film has always held a strange fascination with me a power which has yet to wain even after numerous viewings. At the same time this power that the film holds is very much a double edged sword as this film is easily one of the most grim films I have in my collection, so much so that I tend to view it once a year, while it usually takes the remainder of the year to get over the experience. Still with this being “Aprilofsky” I knew that it was kind of inevitable that at some point this month I would inevitably find myself revisiting it.

Based on the book by Hubert Selby, Jr. (who also makes a cameo as a laughing prison guard) the film follows the three intertwining stories of low level drug dealers Harry (Leto) and his best friend Tyrone (Wayans), Harry’s girlfriend and aspiring fashion designer Marion (Connelly) and Sara, Harry’s TV addled mother who dreams of being on television. For of you familiar with Selby, Jr.’s bleak world outlook you will no doubt already know that nothing is going to end up well for this foursome, but it is the journey they each take towards an inevitable downward spiral which Aronofsky perfectly captures and draws you in with, so that by the time you realise the path the characters are on, you are already too drawn into the story to turn back.

Arguably Aronofsky’s strongest film, I know that personally I was glad that I started with this film, rather than with his black and white debut “Pi” which gave the indication that it felt it was smarter than it was, while confusing things further with mathematical theory and mantra style repetition of its lead characters childhood recollection which only made it harder film to follow. Here though he would challenge those who didn’t get his debut as he perfects his use of repetition while heavily working his bag of visual tricks which includes the extensive use of quick cuts which total over 2,000 which only comes into perspective when you consider that most films only contain between 600 to 700 cuts.

The casting here really is spot on while equally risky at the time of the film’s release with Connelly being best known for most us for playing Sarah in “Labyrinth”, Leto aswell was better known for playing a teen heartthrob on “My So Called Life” despite having the snot beaten out of him as Angelface in “Fight Club” while Wayans was (and still is) known for his comedic roles with this film marking one of rare dramatic roles. It should be equally noted that the cast were equally brave for signing up for the film, after all this is hardly a film were any of the characters are going to walk away unscathed by the end credits, a fact which certainly didn’t escape Burstyn who was reportedly horrified by the script and only accepted the role after she saw Aronofsky’s debut “Pi”. Personally I would have placed money on her only wanting to further distance herself from the film, but guess like so many of you that she saw something in that film which I didn’t.

Needless to say each of the cast fully embody their individual characters, fully committing to their roles which was always going to be an essential element to the film as we find ourselves truly caring what happens to these characters, hoping that they will eventually find a way out of their downward spiral. I mean can you think of a time were you have been left feeling unclean and strangely horrified watching a gratuitous sex scene? Even with our drug dealing duo who are slowly being destroyed by a combination of their own habit and a drug dealer turf war drying out their supply chain you still want to see come out of this ordeal relatively unscathed. The most crushing though is the slowly deteriating mental state of Sara who loneliness is only broken up by the self help infomercial which seemingly plays on a continuous loop  and her dream of fitting in her red dress. It really is a tour-de-force performance that Burstyn brings to the role and who through the help of prosthetics and fat suits takes on one of the most startling transformations over the course of the film especially when she is a nervous shell to start with it is utterly heart breaking to see her slow decline over the course of the film as her diet pill abuse only becomes increasingly worse and her grip on reality continues to weaken.

The supporting cast are equally great here, while at the same time never to the point were they distract our attention away from the main foursome. At the same time when it comes to Christopher McDonald and Keith David, they are on such memorable form, that now I instantly associated themselves as being either being a power house self-help guru (McDonald) or a charming drug dealer / pimp (David). These characters though are not there to offer false salvation, but rather existing to simply provide the final push.

Another key element of the film is the killer combination of Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet whose soundtrack really adds a whole new level to the film and even though the “Lux Aeterna” has been overused on countless film trailers, Video games, talent shows and essentially any other event looking for a memorable piece of music. This of course is only one of the memorable tracks on the soundtrack as it perfectly frames numerous moments of the film from drug haze euphoria the playful days of summers, while taking on a more frantic and nightmarish qualities as the characters suffer through withdrawal and ultimately hit their individual rock bottoms.  The soundtrack here though truly highlights how powerful an effect it can be when the soundtrack is working in perfect conjunction with the images on screen.

An unquestionably powerful film, yet not the sort of film you pick up as a casual watch and like "Schindler's list" it is best approached with some pre-warning and a stack of cartoons to help you deal with the aftermath, as this one is unquestionably brutal. At the same time it marked Aronofsky out as major talent on the indie film making scene an while he has yet to top this high bench mark he set for the films to come, it served as a taste of what would follow. 

The Fountain

Title: The Fountain

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Released: 2006

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, Stephen McHattie, Fernando Hernandez, Cliff Curtis, Sean Patrick Thomas, Donna Murphy, Ethan Suplee

Plot: Three stories set in the past, present and future which intersect and run parallel to each other, based around the themes of love and morality.

Review: After flirting with mainstream film making with “Requiem for a Dream”, here Aronofsy returned to the arthouse roots which he established with his debut film “Pi”, while it also turned out to be his most troubled production to date, with his original concept having to be scraped when Brad Pitt pulled out over creative differences with Aronofsky combined with a spiralling budget which forced the studio to pull the plug on the production. Refusing to give up on the project, he instead reworked the script and recast the film with Jackman and Weisz taking on the lead roles (both working at reduced rate) which would allow him to work within the new budget of $35 million, a considerable drop from the original $70 million budget which had been assigned to the film.

One of his most personal films it is also the film which tends to divide opinion the most, with most of its detractors choosing to write it off as pretentious nonsense. It is also far from the easiest of films to explain, yet strangely at the same time it is still surprisingly a straightforward film to follow when you see it all on screen which was one the things which surprised me the most about this film the first time I watched it. After all here is a film which switches between Spanish conquistadors searching for the tree of life, a modern day scientist Tom desperately searching for a cure for his cancer-stricken wife and finally a man in the distant future travelling towards the nebula of Xibalba inside a self-contained bio-sphere. Aronfsky though rather than give any real reason for these genre hopping antics, instead wrote it off as being “Because it’s fun” which I’ve a feeling was also Zack Snyder’s reasoning for making “Sucker Punch”.

Even outlining these plots as you can see is confusing enough, even before Aronofsky starts to interweave them over the course of the film which works fine for the past and present segments, with the conquistador sequences taking place in the story which Tom’s wife is writing. Sadly the links to the future segment seem largely more forced and also the more art house moments of the film, as they consist mainly of a bald Jackman sitting around in his bubble, eating bark from the tree in its centre and having conversations with Tom’s wife, though the link between her and this future character is never properly explained and much like the moral of the film is left frustratingly obscure.

To his credit Aronofsky manages to bring something different to each of the segments, from self-flagellating inquisitors, conquistadors battling mayan’s through to Tom pushing his team to explore every more radical procedures in the search for the cure for his wife’s cancer, there is unquestionably a lot of different elements at play which does help to give it a mini-epic feel despite the minimalist timeline. At the same time Aronofsky manages to convincing portray the enduring love between Jackman and Weisz without things getting overly sacturine sweet, especially with the present day scenes which are played with a mixed of tender and frustrated moments as Tom tries desperately to speed up his search for a cure, while trying to make the most of what time he still has left with his wife.

As the two leads both Jackman and Weisz are engaging to watch and convincingly play each of their three alter-ego’s, even if most of the heavy lifting is left to Jackman whose performance here made me wonder how Pitt could ever have managed the range which Jackman achieves here, while ensuring that each of his three alter-egos’s remain strong throughout, even the navel gazing antics of spaceman Tommy, who is saved more by the stunning visual effects than by anything really happening on his particular story thread.

Returning once again to soundtrack the film Clint Mansell teams up with the Kronos Quartet, bringing a sense of familiarity to the films soundtrack especially after their soundtrack for “Requiem for a Dream” burned itself into the general conscious and perfectly suit the tone of the film, while this time they are further complimented by tracks provided by Mogwai with the soundtrack really coming into its own during the more spectacular set pieces like the supernova or human plant transformation.

One of Aronofsky’s weaker films but still well above the mathematical theory nightmare which was “Pi”, while the film only further suffers due to it being more of a personal project than one designed for mass audience consumption. At the same time while it has numerous good ideas and memorable sequences, the composition ultimately is where the film comes undone with too many ideas being thrown around and not enough structure to satisfactorily tie them all together, as Aronofsky prefers to leave it up to audience interpretation than confirm what anything is supposed to actually mean. Yes it might be very pretty to look at, but it is also a film which walks a tight rope between being a mini-epic and pretentious tosh making it really one for the completists than the first time viewer.

Elwood's Essentials #7: The Wrestler

Title: The Wrestler

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Released: 2008

Starring: Mickey Rouke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis, Todd Barry, Judah Friedlander, Ernest Miller, Necro Butcher, R-Truth

Plot: Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Rouke) a professional wrestler long past his prime and now reduced to wrestling in small venues, is forced to face up to the end of his career after suffering a heart attack. Now he is forced to come to terms with a life outside of the ring, while attempting to reconcile with his estranged daughter (Wood) and his relationship with aging striper Cassidy (Tomei)

Review: Last weekend was the source of much excitement, mainly thanks to “Wrestlemania” which this year celebrated 30 years, which even the fact that it was being hosted by the franchise killer, wrestling relic and DTV star Hulk Hogan it did little to my general enthusiasm for the event, as yes I’m a wrestling fan. So what better time to revisit this film, along with the fact that “French Toast Sunday” have declared the whole of April to be “Darren Aprilofsky” as part of their ongoing season of director dedicated months.

When it was first announced a lot of people dismissed this film believing that it would another hokey feel good sports movie, which is kind of understandable seeing how it is set in the world of professional wrestling. However what Aronofsky gives us instead a much more moving and even more surprisingly respectful look at the world of professional wrestling. Here Aronofsky doesn’t question the appeal of a sport were matches are pre-determined, but I instead keeps the focus purely on the wrestlers, stepping behind the curtain as he shows us scenes of wrestlers discussing how their matches will play out and tactics to ensure that they get the best reaction from the crowds.

Randy despite being long past his 80’s glory days when we meet him, Randy is still making a living off his past glories as fans still worship his in ring performances no doubt with a heavy dose of nostalgia. Meanwhile outside of the ring his situation is far more grim as he finds himself forced to sleep in his van when he fails again to make the rent on his trailer park home, while being forced to make ends meet working a low wage supermarket job. He is also a character truly brought to life via a career best performance by Rouke who embodies this character while only adding further depth thanks to the similar struggles that both Rouke and his fictional counterpart have. It is also very much a less is more style of performance were even the smallest of gestures speaks volumes.

Interestingly though Rouke almost didn’t take on the role as it had originally been given to Nicolas Cage, who depending on whose version you believe either stepped down to allow his friend Rouke to take on the role, knowing aswell that Aronofsky truly had Rouke in mind for the role. Cage on the other hand has gone on record to state that it was more to do with the time commitment required to achieve the look required. I would prefer to believe the first version. More amusing through would be the claim made by Hulk Hogan that he was also offered the role only to turn it down, a claim later dismissed as being yet more of Hogan’s usual bullshit when Aronofsky went on record to state that he had never offered him the role.

Rouke though is the perfect choice for Randy, even more so when he fully embraced the wrestling world, throwing himself into eight weeks of intensive wrestling training for the role which really helped when it comes to the wrestling sequences, especially when he frequently performs in these scenes with real-life wrestlers including a memorable hardcore match (wrestling with weapons) against Necro Butcher were the two wrestlers essentially brutalise each other with a variety of creative and painful looking weapons including one highlight which sees Randy using the prosthetic leg handed to him by a member of the rabid crowd. These wrestling scenes are only further added to by being filmed at live wrestling events including events held by the indie fed’s CZW and Ring of Honour, who along with both TNA and WWE were happy to show their support for the film and in many ways it only adds to the realism while further highlighting the respect which Aronofsky shows the sport.

More interesting though is the fact that here we have a sports movie which doesn’t follow the rookie or the underdog getting their shot at the big time as here Aronofsky chooses to make a film about someone at the end of their career a prospect which Randy continually ties to avoid by working out harder and increasing his steroid intake to keep up with the younger guys he is competing with. Ultimately Randy is forced to face the inevitable when he suffers a heart attack and the prospect of no longer being able to wrestle, while a haunting meet and greet alongside his fellow former greats only seems to highlight the future which awaits him as he surveys the damage they like himself have done to their bodies out of love for their sport.

It is equally interesting that the closest person to Randy is the aging stripper Cassidy, who like Randy is also facing the prospect of her own career coming to an end as she struggles to hustle private dances from clients who favour the younger girls. Together though they provide each other with a prospect of a life outside of their professions and while there is hints of a developing romantic interest between them it is an interest which ultimately only goes as far as a spontaneous make out session, quickly followed by regret on Cassidy’s part. This angle is far from the most interesting aspect of their relationship with the scenes of Randy reminiscing about his glory days and Cassidy helping Randy to reconnect with his daughter and in many ways finding happiness through their unorthodox friendship being far more fascinating to watch.

Unquestionably though this film sees Rouke at his career best, it only makes it more of a shame that he didn’t win the much deserved Oscar he was nominated for as he joins the wrongfully snubbed actors club which also includes Ryan Gosling in “Drive” and Tilda Swindon in “We Need To Talk About Kevin”. At the same time Rouke receives great support from both Tomei and Wood who are both able to hold their own while only adding to the emotional journey Randy finds himself on as he ultimately has to choose between doing the sport he loves which could ultimately kill him or to settle into a life outside of the ring. Even for non-wrestling fans this is still a gripping film, which for the established fans this is touching homage to the world of spandex clad heroes, as this truly is the "Raging Bull" of Wrestling movies.