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Requiem for a Dream – 2000 Aronofsky
- Requiem is a masterpiece of editing/montage
- It’s a relentless, sometimes repetitive, unsparing and searing fucked up portrayal of the American dream
- I forgot about the heavy use of split screen
- Accented sound editing (drugs being taken, remove control, etc)- all of these in these mini-montages (eye ball enlarging upon drug use—it does get repetitive and not in a good formal way
- A stunningly ambitious second film
- Expressionistic in mise-en-scene, in narrative with some of the surrealism sequences and in wonderfully edgy and embellished performances
- Aronofsky absolutely refuses to shoot anything in a straightforward way and I love that
- The surrealism sequences are superb. We have the reoccurring use of the end of the pier, the wonderful tangent of wayans as a boy telling his momma he’s going to make it and we have the fridge and television coming alive to attack ellen Burstyn
- The film has tiny flaws- you don’t have to be flawless to be a masterpiece, it gets repetitive with the drug sales montages and cash register noises
- A very free-swinging film instead of a more calculating peer like say Nolan or Wes Anderson
- Meditation on ambition, drug addiction on both sides of the legal fence
- Aerial 360 shots above bed reoccurs
- Bold broad strokes
- Use of fast motion prevalent, reverse POV shot a la mean streets just like he used in pi
- I think it’s the career best work form Burstyn and Leto. Burstyn is the show-stopper here. Such bravery- she throws herself out there.
- The last 20 minutes the 3 story montages get tighter and tighter- it’s devastating
- The score is an all-timer
- I do think we lose the summer/fall/winter chapters unless he never planned to have a spring
- It is a 102 minute epic and that is hard to do
- I think it is a Must-See film 75 minutes in but those final 30 minute push it to a masterpiece
- Masterpiece
Drake2017-08-31T20:00:25+00:00
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Jared Leto’s best performance is the Dallas Buyers Club.
@Randy— oh no. Requiem is definitely the answer here.
Nah man he was solidified requiem but his performance in Dallas Buyers Club is one of the best of the 21st Century.
@Randy— Nope– you can’t be up for one of the best performances of the 21st century in the 34th best movie of 2013 which is where Dallas Buyers Club lands. Dallas Buyers Club is a nice little movie.
Um yes you can Blue Jasmine is probably the 25th Best film of 2013 while Cate Blanchetts performance is top ten this century. The way you rate things is weird you can’t seriously watch Requiem for a Dream and Dallas Buyers Club back to back and come out thinking His performance is better in requiem is better than his performance in Dallas Buyers Club. Or just like you can’t seriously tell me with a straight face that Ryan Gosling performance in La La Land is better than Let’s day Casey Afflecks performance in Manchester in the Sea or Adam Driver’s performance in Paterson, he may be in a better film(though I disagree) but in no way shape or form Was Goslings performance all that his performance is even top five of his own filmography.
@Randy– Yep, I’m serious about Leto’s ranking and having Gosling’s work in 2016 ahead of Affleck and Driver’s performance (though both are superb runners’ up in 2016)- for sure- very confident. I think you’ll change your mind on these over time when you look back. Especially in the case of Dallas Buyers and Blue Jasmine I think you’re getting caught up in the showiness of these two roles. The academy did too- a common mistake. But the main point here is the best performances aren’t buried in films this mediocre (relatively).
No bruh I’m not changing my mind ever The Academy for once actually got it right that year(2013) Gosling didn’t even have a top ten performance That Year, he was good but you’re over praising his performance in the film. his performance in Blue Valentine and Half Nelson on the other hand were out of this world and he should have won/best nominated in those respective years. I’ll think you’ll be the one to see my point of view,but to each their own.
@Randy — Well that’s unfortunate. Half Nelson over La La Land for Gosling? Not a chance. Same mistake as Witness over Raiders for Harrison Ford. We can be done here. I don’t normally say this but these really are not worth debating for me.
Not everyone puts as much emphasis on the quality of the film when assessing performance, but Drake’s pretty upfront about the fact that that is an essential component of his evaluation.
I might put Blue Valentine as my top Gosling performance (still part of an essential movie though), but La La Land is his best overall film and he’s fantastic in it.
Hey @Drake,
I hope you’re doing great.
I was wondering would Gena Rowlands be as good as Ellen Burstyn in Sara Goldfarb?
@M*A*S*H- Good one here- I can see it, yes. And Rowlands only 2-3 years older than Burstyn.
@Drake,
Yepp.
And What about The Exorcist? Gena Rowlands as Chris McNeil in The Exorcist? Can you see that too?
@M*A*S*H Yes- this was a good find here- I think I could see the two trading many roles throughout the years and decades and excel in those roles on both sides.
@Drake,
I don’t think Burstyn will be as as good as Rowlands in Cassavetes’ films.
I consider Gena Rowlands to be the most talented actress of all. Her skills are incomparable. But she rarely got films worthy of her talent (expect for Cassavetes’ fims) so i was thinking that if she was on a roll and was constantly doing great movies/ roles with great auteurs, what kind of movies/ roles she’d have.
She’d have The Exorcist, Requiem, the last picture show, Alice doesn’t live here anymore. These are the kind of roles/ films she’d excel in.
@MASH – Burstyn would excel in most of these roles. I am happy things worked out the way they did (in both cases).
@Drake,
I’m not saying that Burstyn didn’t excel in the roles she ended up playing. Her monologue in Requiem is a peerless acting moment. She’s the best of the year in the Exorcist, best among the ensemble of the last picture show, won an Oscar for Alice and what an underrated film and performance king of Marvin gardens is.
I’m saying if Rowlands was the favorite of every auteur her filmography won’t include works like Network Or Chinatown, Klute Or coming home etc. she won’t be a perfect fit for these roles. All of Burstyn’s roles seem tailor-made for Rowlands as well.