Requeim For a Dream --

-- Would you watch it more than once?

This is something I was just thinking about. Everyone I have ever asked about Requiem for a Dream all say they would never watch it more than once because of a) its subject matter b)

the double-headed dildo scene

or c) it was crap.

So is there anyone who has actually seen it more than once? And if you haven't, would you?

herbieflowers

sheesh people wouldn't watch it twice for the subject matter?

johnny_ultimate

Yes, I have seen it twice, and would watch it again at a later injuncture. Mainly because it is the most technically magnificent and powerful American drama of the last decade or so.

Although I still grimace at that needle into the infected arm sequence. The double-ended dildo is tame in comparison to that horrific moment.

Melion

Ive seen it at least 30 times. Everyone i recommend it to, i watch it with them. I agree with the above poster, the dildo scene is nothing compared to the needle in the arm towards the end.

Bounty Hunter

ive seen it quite a few times as have many people i know, the only thing they say is its not one they would suggest watching before bed/going to sleep.

Fysh

boneyarsebogman wrote: »

This is something I was just thinking about. Everyone I have ever asked about Requiem for a Dream all say they would never watch it more than once because of a) its subject matter b)

the double-headed dildo scene

or c) it was crap.

Off teh top of my head my first reaction to those responses would be:

a) pretend to nod understandingly, then lend them Visitor Q under the pretence of it being something they'll like and insisting that they watch until the end;
b) pretend to not understandingly, then lend them a DVD claiming to be more attuned to their sensibilities but actually consisting of the "Two girls, one cup" video (if you don't know what it is, count yourself lucky)
c) beat them to death with their copy of "I now pronounce you Chuck & Larry".

On a vaguely more serious note, I would feel unable to have any kind of serious discussion with anyone who could give any of those reasons for not watching Requiem again. Granted, it's not a happy film and you do need to be in a certain frame of mind to watch it without ending up thoroughly depressed at the end, but it is at the same time a fantastic and technically exceptional piece of film.

Jello

I've watched it three times and still find the ending tough going, but that certainly doesn't take away from how good the film is as a whole.

My name is Todd

I would absolutely watch it again. I only saw it a couple of months ago and I was disgusted with myself for having left it so long.
What an amazing film. Connolly and Leto's finest moments.

Jack B. Badd

I saw it for the second time just after xmas and I have to say it's probably better on repeat viewing (I saw it the first time about 4 years ago). I thought the

double-ended dildo scene

was pretty tame given the subject matter of the film. It's not a nice film but it is a good film and the ending was perfectly done - especially since I read somewhere recently that "Hollywood does not necessarily want to only deliver happy endings but it does want to always end its films on a reassuring note". I don't know how true this is but I know I'm sick of the tripe that seems to comprise 99.5% of what comes out of America. Requeim for a Dream was a refreshing, if not so reassuring, change.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Eirebear

I watch it fairly often actually, its a fantastic film.

The first time i saw it was a complete and utter shock for me because i was expecting something completey different and my wife had quite happily let me get stoned before putting it on (evil bitch!:D) but even then it became an instant classic to my mind.

Jack B. Badd

Eirebear wrote: »

my wife had quite happily let me get stoned before putting it on (evil bitch!:D)

Goddammit, why didn't I think of that? :mad:

Eirebear

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Goddammit, why didn't I think of that? :mad:

Believe me, by the time it got to the end i was regretting every little puff...

BlitzKrieg

havnt watched it a 2nd time yet, mainly because I didnt think much of it the first time, I much perfer Pie over Requeim and when I get around to watching that for a third time and finally watch the fountain I might watch requeim again to see if it grows on me more.

That doesnt mean I think its crap, no I dont but I dont think its fantastic either, see my post when it was made fotw for details.

Makaveli

Fysh wrote: »

b) pretend to not understandingly, then lend them a DVD claiming to be more attuned to their sensibilities but actually consisting of the "Two girls, one cup" video (if you don't know what it is, count yourself lucky)

Oh the horror. Had almost forgotten about this but it's something that will forever be burned into the memory. If only you could un-watch stuff.

I agree that the needle scene is far worse than the scene in spoilers but neither are enough to stop me watching the film again.

I also fail to see what is difficult to understand about the film. True, it's not the easiest watch but it is a very good film. Great soundtrack too.

eth0_

I've only seen it once, haven't felt able to watch it again as it was so deeply unsettling, more so than a film like Schindler's list, even! I guess because you are drawn more deeply into the lives of the two main characters and the mother, as opposed to an enormous group of people who you don't get the chance to identify with.

It is an amazing movie and I hope i do watch it again sometime. Maybe i'm a bit of a pussy :-)

Jack B. Badd

Eirebear wrote: »

Believe me, by the time it got to the end i was regretting every little puff...

Actually I was thinking more along the lines of drugging my boyfriend before I forced him to watch it (the fact that he had wanted to watch it anyway doesn't really have anything to do with anything in my book)

BlitzKrieg wrote:

I much perfer Pie over Requeim

mmmmm! pie

I wasn't all that impressed with Pi but I have a feeling I probably should have waited until I was a bit older before watching it - think I was about 17 at the time and a lot of it might have gone over my head. Time for a rewatch in the not too distant future methinks.

herbieflowers

Yeah I agree with BlitzKrieg, I preferred Pi as a whole, there were bits I liked about Requiem, bits I thought were a bit meh...

starn

I never thought of Requim as a paticularly great film. I must of seen it a least half a dozen times.

aurel

Pi is good and all but for me requiem is a whole other level of film making.
And in answer to the original question I have watched it several times and no doubt will again.

Retr0gamer

Haven't watched it a second time mainly due to the fact that I don't think it's all that great a film. Technically it's quite an achievement but storywise it's just another generic 'drugs are bad so we'll shock you to show how bad they are' film. Pi is a much better film.

Call Me Jimmy

boneyarsebogman wrote: »

-- Would you watch it more than once?

This is something I was just thinking about. Everyone I have ever asked about Requiem for a Dream all say they would never watch it more than once because of a) its subject matter b)

the double-headed dildo scene

or c) it was crap.

So is there anyone who has actually seen it more than once? And if you haven't, would you?

Wha!?

double-ended dildo scene

is best part! Anyway I've seen it twice and now that you mention it i'll probably watch it again tonight. Class film altogether, soundtrack ftw.

Beelzebub

It's disturbing and depressing so need to wait another few months for the second viewing.

christophicus

I have seen it 3 times , was going to watch it a 4rth but the day before I awas going to watch it the person I was going to watch it with saw the last 10 mins of it on tv :P .


It is my favourite film of all time , no question.

I did not really like Pi that much, I think it really depends on which one you see first.

To be honest I did not think Requiem is that horific or disturbing. Infact I watched American Beauty the other day and that made me feel far more uncomfortable then Requiem did.

Jack B. Badd

christophicus wrote: »

Infact I watched American Beauty the other day and that made me feel far more uncomfortable then Requiem did.

Because it was such a cheap Hollywood knockoff of a decent film?

humanji

I fall into category C. I jsut thought it was a crap film with few redeeming qualities. It's not a patch on Pi and The Fountain just blows it away.

christophicus

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Because it was such a cheap Hollywood knockoff of a decent film?

No I was not actually aware of that. What was the origianl called??

Is the fountain a recent movie?? I could have sworn I saw a trailer for it recently and I really did not think it looked in any way interesting . It looked to me like a chick flick, am I wrong??

Jack B. Badd

christophicus wrote: »

No I was not actually aware of that. What was the origianl called??

Sorry that should have said "decent concept" rather than "decent film". I don't think it was a remake of anything. I just found it rather kitsch, designed to appeal to an audience to don't really want to have to think about bad **** happening. It was a film about a plastic bag imo.

Placebo

anyone seen the fountain, looks a bit so so.

johnny_ultimate

Placebo wrote: »

anyone seen the fountain, looks a bit so so.

Yeah I liked it alot (one of the most interesting visual spectacles in a long time) but I know from experience there are alot of haters out there.
Really one you have to watch for yourself.

Fysh

humanji wrote: »

I fall into category C. I jsut thought it was a crap film with few redeeming qualities. It's not a patch on Pi and The Fountain just blows

Fixed that for you. I couldn't really decide on which I prefer of Pi and Requiem, but both of them I found to be superior to The Fountain, both in terms of the performances involved and the narrative involved. (Though I must admit that in purely visual terms The Fountain was very good. I just found myself getting bored rather than being drawn into the story while watching it).

Dudess

Seen it several times and intend to see it again several times - bought the DVD. I think it's an astounding film. One of my favourites. Also bought the soundtrack. The only flaw, in my opinion, is a lack of humour - even gallows humour. It kinda takes itself a bit too seriously. Another very dark film from around the same time, Happiness, makes for tremendously uncomfortable viewing in places too, but there are also bits that have me laughing out loud.
Interestingly, the two films have actors in common with each other - Dylan Baker who plays the paedophile psychiatrist in Happiness makes a brief appearance as the doctor who examines Jared Leto's arm in Florida. And Louise Lasser, the mother of the three sisters in Happiness, plays Ellen Burstyn's mate Ada.

Hellm0

Requiem is a deeply disturbing movie for me as I've seen similar patterns of behavior before. Its a bit extreme of course but non the less a very good portrail of the decent that's possible with addiction.

Yeh I'll probably watch it again though.

'Ol Jack Chance

i bought the dvd i havent watched it in a while tho want too just too busy at the mo. the fact that its so raw is what makes it a good film. that and the soundtrack. magnifique!

ghouldaddy07

I really didnt find the film that disturbing just a bunch of generic emo teens abusing heroin.
The film looks amazing and the soundtrack is Fantastic the whole way through but I think the film gets abit boring and that granny repulses me big time

L31mr0d

thought the fountain was a great movie, but I agree, there are a lot of haters of it. I usually find the haters are people who say at the end "what the hell was that" where as the people that like it say "ah I see it all makes sense".

I just watched requiem for the first time there this evening, it didn't disturb me in the slightest, and I also felt that ending was nausiatingly melodramatic. I will admit its a good movie, but like the OP i'll never watch it again, I don't see the point.

Fysh

L31mr0d wrote: »

thought the fountain was a great movie, but I agree, there are a lot of haters of it. I usually find the haters are people who say at the end "what the hell was that" where as the people that like it say "ah I see it all makes sense".

I don't believe that misunderstanding the film is the only reason people have disliked it; the ending isn't exactly subtle (although I suppose it was never going to be, what with having WolverineHugh Jackman as the lead). My problem with it was that it had a vaguely interesting concept, but the actual storyline used to explore the concept utterly failed to engage me, and the characters weren't interesting. It still had Aronofsky's touch in that the direction was good, but with a boring story and boring characters there's only so much you can do.

L31mr0d

Fysh wrote: »

I don't believe that misunderstanding the film is the only reason people have disliked it; the ending isn't exactly subtle (although I suppose it was never going to be, what with having WolverineHugh Jackman as the lead). My problem with it was that it had a vaguely interesting concept, but the actual storyline used to explore the concept utterly failed to engage me, and the characters weren't interesting. It still had Aronofsky's touch in that the direction was good, but with a boring story and boring characters there's only so much you can do.

What I liked about the movie is that if you bring it up with people who also found it interesting you can get some interesting conversations about it. I always judge a movie on how much the thought of it lingers in your mind once the credits roll. There are a few different ways of viewing the storyline, you can view it as actual, metaphors, philisophical or simply the space scenes being Jackmans dreams and the Conquistador scenes being just read from Weisz book.

Also I watched this movie in 1080p with 5.1 surround sound and the spectacle of some of the scenes is what made it even more memorable.

Jack B. Badd

L31mr0d wrote: »

What I liked about the movie is that if you bring it up with people who also found it interesting you can get some interesting conversations about it.

Couldn't that be said of every movie?

sillo

To the OP: I've seen requiem a bundle of times over the years.

Placebo wrote: »

anyone seen the fountain, looks a bit so so.

Cracking movie. Far more ambitious than anything he's done before. Completely different movie to Requiem, far more ambitious and broad in scope.

tman

I've watched it once and will defintiely watch it again... It's really just a matter of finding a time when you're in a suitable headspace to tackle it.

Danbo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1qihwMN0JM

the embed option is disabled so heres the link... Excellent movie editing for any requiem fan....