Requiem For A Dream

The story line of this film which apparently ordinary. Referential meaning can be seen in this film which happens around 4 drug addicts whose addictions on dieting, wealth, success and fame. However, the way how the director tells us the story has truly impressed me a lot. He enhances this film with the element of costumes and make-up. The oversize clothing, dark circles and pale sick face apply on characters and truly enhance the characteristic of a drug addict. Besides, the first scene of the film is in the house where we can see the setting of the house is sort of simple as this presents the social class of the mother and her son. The things we can see pretty obvious are the TV set and the fridge. These enhance the characteristic of the mother too as she is that kind of typical housewife who stays at home, watches TV, cooks sometimes probably. Most of the time, the director plays with the camera angles and impressive editing from scene to scene which are mostly fast cuts. The film as if brings me into the world of the characters to feel their emotion and illusion. 

One of the method the director arranges the shots is using montage. The fast cuts in the montage shows the act of drugs consumption by the characters. The shots in montage are extreme close up which show the detailed action on every scene. From the scene of syringe, powder dropping on the table to a lighter lights up fire, boiling water, rolled money, the powder is sniffed, the cells flowing in the nerves and the changing size of pupil. The fast cuts as well as the pace of edits seem to establish my feeling of fast beating heart after taking drugs. 

Other than that, the mother character, Sara, who has nothing else left in her life as her husband has passed away and her son, Harry is a drug addicts and runaway from home. The only activity of Sara's daily routine is watching television program to spend her time. However, Harry steals the television from Sara to pawn the television to get enough cash for drugs. This action is apparently normal to Sara as she has locked the TV set with chain. Sara hides herself in the closet watching Harry removes the television through the keyhole. This scene is being split into half which the left is Sara's P.O.V looking at Harry while the right is Harry himself. This editing seems to convey the emotion and the relationship between Harry and Sara. Sara even refuses to send Harry to the police as Harry is the only one she has in her life. Besides, this is also showing us the cause and effect that we might expect throughout the film. The characteristic of Harry who is poor but a drug addict, how would he get more money to overcome the obstacle? He as an active character, he must actively solve the problem, though it is not a good act.

I don't actually find catharsis and completeness after watching this film, instead, I feel I was kind of stress and depressed. It makes my mind wandering around the characters and their characteristics. It seems so real yet so abstract.
Sometimes, we might want to chase for fame, wealth, attention on the path in our life, but when we are overly attached to these, we might fall, to the consequences that we couldn't take anymore.

Thus, sometimes, one shouldn't be blamed for all faults when she is doing something wrong. The action taken might be affected by the environment as well. This can be seen through Sara's character. She becomes obsessed to be appeared on television and causes her taking too much of diet pills in order to lose her weight in shortest time. This might be because of the huge contrast between the reality in her life which is lonely and quiet compared to the television program which is energetic and so much attention from the audiences. 

Additionally, what I can see is that the director also shows the characteristic of a drug addict who happens to be always wandering in his/her illusion. Harry imagines himself making fun of a policeman by throwing his gun in the air; Harry's girlfriend, Marion imagines herself to jab a fork into Arnold's hand; and Sara who imagines the fridge is trying to break from the wall after taking too much of diet pills. However, non of this really happens. In this film, we can see how a drug addict is being portrayed. Their life is generally just wandering in between the reality and their illusion. The editing has really put me into the emotion of theirs where sometimes it is hard to realize am I in the reality of the film or I'm in the character's illusion.

Next, when I was doing research on this film, I realized a short video scene which is quite similar to this film during the part when Marion is fully naked and submerges herself inside a bathtub and shouts underwater. This scene is similar to a scene in a Japanese animated film which is Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon. Is this kind of pastiche as what Mr. Joe mentioned in the class?