Starring: Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Ellen Burstyn
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Dynamic, original, violent and bleak. This film tells the story of four people whose lives are intertwined, who all end up addicted to the drugs that they thought would change their lives for the better. Instead, they are all destroyed.
Harry Goldfarb (Leto), with his best friend, (Wayans) start to deal the drugs they use, starting a business that initially goes well, but inevitably is unstable and unsustainable. Into this, Marian (Connelly) is Harry’s girlfriend, a beautiful artistic girl who escapes from her past, her family, and her life through drugs and Harry. Whilst Harry’s mother wants to look good for her TV debut as a game show contestant but ends up horribly addicted to diet pills. Their lives slowly spiral out of control.
It’s A Must See Because: The reasons to see this film are the four core performances, which are all absolutely incredible. Burstyn was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Mrs Goldfarb. The film itself is stylish and stylistic, drawing you into the mindset of the four through unique visuals and visual styles, and the commentary of Americans living under the failure of the American Dream is all very… well, it’s all really good.
But this film is so bleak! And dark. Ok, I get that it’s about drug abuse and the dark places that that takes you, so it’s not going to be a musical, and nor should it be. I just mean that I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, I actually didn’t like it at all, though I appreciated the performances and the skill that went into it’s creation. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s a wee bit over the top at times… I know some of you are going to villify me in the comments section for that!
See It If: you like drug and crime movies, and you have the stomach for it. It’s dark, there are no happy endings here.
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I feel ashamed to say I’ve never seen this film. When I do, I’ll make sure to have a strong stomach.
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Sometimes I wish I hadn’t seen this film. Lol.
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I’ve heard it’s very difficult to watch but definitely one that would put you off ever using drugs.
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I have seen this movie many times, because I enjoy the visual style Aaronofsky uses to explain the nature of addiction. The performances were amazing and Burstyn was robbed off an Oscar that year.
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Having seen this on its first release, twice, and walked out of the cinema feeling savagely gutpunched, I watched it again and found it just as brutal. The final 20-30 minutes are a ride straight into Hell.
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Absolutely!
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‘Bleak’… you’re so right in describing it that way. This movie gave me serious depression for hours after watching it. But…but…but what a tale and what performances! One of my all time faves, as is the Director.
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Yeah, I know what you mean! You definitely need an ice cream or something afterwards! 😂 But like you say, the performances & the direction are amazing.
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This was definitely a good film, but oh wow was it dark indeed. The performances were spot on, and really elevated the movie. But you are right about it being bleak. I have never watched it back, and I don’t plan to either. Still I am glad to have seen it once, just for the incredible performances.
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Yes! I’m with you! Ha ha! I will never watch this again! 😂 But it’s a solid film.
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