Requiem for a Dream

Story Line: Brooklyn hipster Harry (Leto), Marion (Connelly) and Tyron (Wayans) are junkie thrill-seekers. Harry's lonely, widowed mother (Burstyn) is looking for a different kind of thrill, but their worlds soon meet.

Bottom Line: Though justly recognized by most critics as one of last year's better theatrical releases, Requiem for a Dream is difficult to adore and easy to dislike on subjective and visual levels. Director Aronofsky adapts the novel by co-screenwriter Hubert Selby in just the way a book should be; Selby's vision remains intact but is refracted through an auteur's lens. Aronofsky employs familiar techniques (split-screens, fast-motion photography, a fish-eyed lens) in surprisingly original ways, with results that are often harrowing and at times too nerve-wracking to watch comfortably. Oscar-nominee Burstyn is fascinating if not--perhaps appropriately--overwrought, while Connelly and Wayans provide impressive support. Like 1990's Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem is outsider filmmaking that won't please the faint-hearted or amuse the disinterested, and--like Aronofsky's debut feature Pi--should be recommended to renters who choose to mull over a movie as a work of art. --C.S. O'Brien