Requiem for a Dream

Darren Aronofsky is an independent filmmaker with a rare gift for re-creating unpleasant psychological states. Abetted by a lacerating soundtrack, his debut feature, Pi, depicted deteriorating sanity so cogently that by the end viewers shared its hero's nosebleeds. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream multiplies the pain fourfold as a quartet of characters undergo the shortlived delights and prolonged miseries of addiction.

Harry (Jared Leto) and Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) are junkies from Brighton Beach who dream of becoming drug dealers. Harry and dilettante druggie girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) share a dream of living happily ever after. Harry's mother (Ellen Burstyn) has a dream too -- she wants to be slim enough to appear on a TV game show wearing her pretty red dress. A helpful doctor subscribes diet pills, and all four fall prey to their various joneses, each a variation on the ultimate high of the American dream. Aronofsky draws on both the brutal eloquence and the nagging predictability of Selby's prose, but despite harrowing performances (particularly by Burstyn), a flashy if repetitious depiction of the highs and lows of drug abuse, and a staggering climactic sequence (it earned the film an NC-17 rating), this Dream doesn't stir much beyond stereotype.

-- Peter Keough