Lifetime Movies: 2000

2000: it's like a futuristic time...a year in which we were all to have flying cars and the future was unknown and going to be awesome...For me it was the true beginning of having come out of 1999 being floored by the great films of that year...I was looking forward to Gladiator, X-Men, and Unbreakable...these were very good films...but One got me hook, line and sinker...We remembered him from Pi...which was a great independent film that made me feel good and smart since I knew and feel like I found that film...but little did I know walking into the Tampa Theater...I was a changed man coming out of Requiem For a Dream...the best film of 2000.


Darren Aronofsky made this film because in college he read the Hubert Shelby novel about a New York gang of low lifes who are drowning in their humanity and obsessive addictions. I too read many books in college rather then study like I should have...I never made movies...but now I write and talk about them. Aronofsky off a great try at Pi made this film again in Brooklyn, NY...specifically Coney Island...a place I grew up around for years...I never knew any heroin dealers...but I knew the feeling of addiction...it wasn't heroin...but pick your poison..food, women, movies...whatever

The cast is incredible...Jared Leto is fantastic and every time I see him all I think of is this film...Ellen Burstyn was robbed of an Oscar, Marlan Wayans in his best performance...and the beautiful and wonderful and gorgeous Jennifer Connelly I am now forever in love with...

The film was known for its NC-17 rating which it deserves...it might have been my first NC -17 film...I remember seeing a few of them around this time...like Cronenberg's Crash...I rewatch Requiem about once or twice a year...it always makes me feel dirty and sad...I feel like I really understand addiction and the ills of our society...what David Simon's "The Wire" does in 5 years of 60 episodes...Aronofsky does in the first 5 minutes of Requiem...take your pick...both are great...the end result is an empty feeling of loss.

Requiem has been my second favorite film of all time since 2000...it probably always will be...it's not a quotable film..it's a dangerous film...every young person should be forced like Alex in A Clockwork Orange to watch this film and be as far away from drugs as possible ..Aronofsky uses every trick in the book to masterpiece levels.

The streets of Coney Island, the language that is Shelby's and specifically street New York, the effects, the acting, and Ass2Ass...all adds up to a glorious film..and we only had to wait 6 years for the next Aronofsky film.