Requiem For a Dream (Director's Cut) (2000) - [DVD9] [2001]

Employing shock techniques and sound design in a relentless sensory assault, Requiem for a Dream is about nothing less than the systematic destruction of hope. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., and adapted by Selby and director Darren Aronofsky, this is undoubtedly one of the most effective films ever made about the experience of drug addiction (both euphoric and nightmarish), and few would deny that Aronofsky, in following his breakthrough film Pi, has pushed the medium to a disturbing extreme, thrusting conventional narrative into a panic zone of traumatized psyches and bodies pushed to the furthest boundaries of chemical tolerance. It's too easy to call this a cautionary tale; it's a guided tour through hell, with Aronofsky as our bold and ruthless host.

The film focuses on a quartet of doomed souls, but it's Ellen Burstyn–in a raw and bravely triumphant performance–who most desperately embodies the downward spiral of drug abuse. As lonely widow Sara Goldfarb, she invests all of her dreams in an absurd self-help TV game show, jolting her bloodstream with diet pills and coffee while her son Harry (Jared Leto) shoots heroin with his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) and slumming girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly). They're careening toward madness at varying speeds, and Aronofsky tracks this gloomy process by endlessly repeating the imagery of their deadly routines. Tormented by her dietary regime, Sara even imagines a carnivorous refrigerator in one of the film's most memorable scenes. And yet… does any of this have a point? Is Aronofsky telling us anything that any sane person doesn't already know? Requiem for a Dream is a noteworthy film, but watching it twice would qualify as masochistic behavior.







MOVIE:
ORIGINAL TITLE: Requiem For a Dream
DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky
COUNTRY: United States
YEAR: 2000

Cast:
Ellen Burstyn
Jared Leto
Jennifer Connelly
Marlon Wayans
Christopher McDonald


Credits
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay: Hubert Selby Jr., Darren Aronofsky (based on the book by Hubert Selby Jr.)
Cinematography: Matthew Libatique
Editing: Jay Rabinowitz
Original Music: Clint Mansell

DVD:
DVD RELEASE: August 14, 2001
STUDIO: Artisan
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 1.85:1
COLOR
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 2.0
SUBTITLES: English (Close Captions), Spanish (added with DVD Lab software)
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 102 min

EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Fab + DVD Shrink
DVD: 1 Original Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: Video_TS Folder
FILE SIZE: 7.5 GB


Special Features:

• Commentary by Darren Aronofsky
• Commentary by Matthew Libatique
• "The Making of Requiem for a Dream"
• Deleted Scenes (with optional director commentary)
• Anatomy of a Scene segment
• Ellen Burstyn Interviews Hubert Selby, Jr.
• Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, and Web Montage
• Cast and Crew Profiles
• Production Notes