I may have given the story in great detail here (way too much is the phrase I was looking for), but bear with me, please? Its my first review.
Statutory Warning: If you have not seen this movie, STOP reading this minute. Spoiler ahead.
Oh fine, I warned you but huh?
The film follows the life of four protagonists as they fight various addictions. The film opens to the loud almost frightening, cheering of a crowd. It’s clearly a game show or a reality show of some kind with audience shouting in unison “Juice by Tappy! Juice by Tappy!” The sense of hype and make believe just hits you as the camera pans the crowd and the sweeping spotlights picks out over-excited faces as the crowds goes “oooOOOOOOOOH! TAPPY’s got juice! TAPPY’s got juice” You then see the famous Tappy shaking hands and looking at the camera saying, “Juice by you”. While its never clearly established in the movie what the show is about its clearly some orchestrated reality show where, one assumes, the winners talk about the great struggles they’ve overcome (say like weight loss) and then get awarded a prize of some sort.
The show is an addiction (the first kind shown in the movie) for Sara Goldfarb, a woman in her fifties. Her son Harry, in his early twenties visits her only to repeatedly pawn her TV. The viewer gets the feeling that Sara is terrified of her son as she locks herself in her room and refuses to come out while Harry tries to open the door. However the rest of the story doesn’t justify Sara looking scared in that first scene. The scene more works to emphasis her blind love for her son (every time he pawns the TV she buys it back and refuses to let the police intervene). The director uses a split screen to show what happens in the hall and in her room, a technique he uses in various parts of the movie. Harry’s black friend, Tyrone is waiting outside and together they take the TV to be pawned as the titles come up. The background score, by Clint Mansell starts and is extraordinary in creating the sense of heightened drama and pathos. You might remember this score from Sunshine, but it works far better in this movie.
The movie then establishes Harry’s attractive girlfriend, Marion and their love for excitement as they needlessly break into a flat and just miss being caught. The two clearly love each other to bits. Marion is far richer, but hates her parents who’ve set her up with an expensive therapist. Harry and Marion dream of opening a design studio for Marion where she can design clothes. All three, Tyrone, Harry and Marion do heroin, but it seems harmless at first. Meanwhile Tyrone hits upon the idea of drug peddling to make a lot of money. They start off right and even make some dough, but staying so close to a lot of heroin (that was meant to be peddled) has them trying it out way too often and they each slip further into the addiction.
Meanwhile Sara Goldfarb gets a call from the ‘television guys’ who want her in as a guest for the Tappy show. She’s excited and even picks out a red dress carefully stashed away in her cupboard. It is the dress she wore to Harry’s graduation and a fav with her husband. Except that she doesn’t fit into it anymore. Her next obsession for losing weight starts her as her neighbour starts her off on a grapefruit diet. As with all those who starve to lose weight she quickly starts obsessing about food. Her refrigerator seems to beckon her. Another neighbour then sends her to a ‘pill doctor’ who puts her on some harmful drugs which gets her all hyper and reduces the craving for food.
Meanwhile the three friends are rolling in money. Tyrone, is show enjoying the newfound wealth in a scene where he’s enjoying some newly installed mirrors and there is an attractive woman calling him to bed. But as he watches the swaying mirrors he suddenly pictures himself as a little boy, being scooped into a bear hug by his mom and him telling her, “I told you mom one day I’d make it” and she says, “You don’t have to make anything my sweet, you just have to love your momma” Tyrone looks visibly moved by his recollection, as he goes back to bed to his girlfriend.
The pill-diet works for Sara and she loses enough weight to impress her friends – and the red dress almost fits. But the promised letter from the television company doesnt come and she starts obsessing about not getting the letter.
Harry notices his mom’s hyper-ness and also the constant teeth grinding when he comes to drop a new TV set for his mom. His warnings to her, to stop taking the pill falls on deaf ears when Sara replies: “What have I got Harry? I’m lonely and old. But I like the way I feel now. I like thinking about the red dress and television. Now when I get the sun, I smile.” Harry leaves feeling enormously guilty and even cries on the taxi back home. But then he shoots up and feels better – a signal of the beginning of the end.
In the scene following this, Marion ask Harry if she’s beautiful and he says, she's the ‘most beautiful girl’ he’s seen. She’s his ‘dream’ – a requiem (a prayer for salvation) for a dream.
Meanwhile the pills are not having the same effect on Sara as before, and so she doubles up her dosage. Instantly her hallucinations start with her being on the Tappy show, with the crowd going, “Sara’s got juice, Sara’s got juice…ooooOOOOH Sara!” Sara also starts hallucinating that the refrigerator wants to eat her up!
Soon the three pals find it had to get heroin to peddle much less to inject themselves. Tyrone finds himself caught for an offence he had nothing to do with. So Harry and Marion spend lots of cash to bail him out. Heroin is hard to come by and Tyrone tells Harry that the only man who has any will give it only for 'pussy'. Harry seriously considers it for a second.
It's fall now as Sara loses more sleep, so does Marion – unable to handle the withdrawal from the drug. Harry’s hand is also seen getting infected. A visibly undernourished Sara, who seems to have all but lost it, visits the pill-doctor. The absolutely irresponsible doctor prescribes her more drugs to calm her. Harry convinces Marion to sleep with her loserofatherapist to get some money. Marion is dressed in black and there is so much of heartbreak in the scene and the ones following it, as Marion does actually sleep with the therapist. Darren Aronofsky uses this Snorricam technique, where the camera follows the actor in a closeup and the background just sort of fades away like in a rear view mirror (sorry cant explain it better, so have put in a snapshot of the same).
Things don’t take long to slip from bad to worse. Heroin still is hard to get and Marion is losing it as well, Sara slips into delusions and Tyrone misses his mom more than ever. Desperate Harry and Tyrone drive down to Florida in search of the stuff. Before leaving, in a fit of anger Harry scribbles out the number of the guy who gives drugs out to only ‘broads’ for Marion to contact. Sara’s overdose pushes her over the edge and she finds Tappy and an attractive version of herself in her apartment laughing at her. Completely harassed and wrecked by her hallucinations and she finds herself on the streets trying to get to the studio. Its winter now and she barely has a coat on. Marion sleeps with the man in exchange for some dope. He invites her to a ‘party’ the following Sunday. In florida Harry’s arm is infected to a very gross extent, so when they do shoot up it gets worse. They get to a hospital but the doctor calls the cops without treating Harry, when he figures they are addicts.
At the studio the stunned staff get the security to take Sara to the hospital – where they try to force feed her.
Marion meantime has finished her stock and sadly decides to go the man’s Sunday bang-party, which sounds like such a bad idea that your stomach churns. One of the saddest moments occurs now, as Marion is getting ready to go and is putting on some mascara. Harry, in obvious pain, calls her from the police station and they have this conversation as they both break down:
When you comin' home, Harry?
Soon.
When?
Soon – he says again as tears roll down both their cheeks.
And then she says, “Harry? Can you come today?”
And he bursts out crying because he cant, but says he’ll come today. Marion looks up and then slowly dabs away the tears so as to not smug her makeup because she knows he’s lying, and that she has to go to the man.
A young doctor meanwhile gets Sara to sign on a paper agreeing to subject herself to ECT – an electric-shock treatment thing, which seems unfair because she barely knows what she is doing.
At the prison, Tyrone is made to work like a dog while Harry – who can barely stand at this point, is sent to the hospital.
Meantime Marion has got herself into something best described as live pornography where she has to perform various sexual acts for drunken men dressed like they just came from work.
The last scenes shows each one of the protangists break down and go to a very foetal position.
Harry – has his arm cut due to chronic gangrene, curls up and cries
Tyrone – tired, with severe withdrawal symptoms imagines his mother comforting him, curls up.
Marion – clutches a brown bag of the ‘stuff’ and curls up with a happy smile
And finally
Sara – who can still her Tappy call her on stage. She calls for her Harry and they hug on the stage. They say they love each other, as Sara curls up with a very mad smile on her lips.
The final scenes would be incomplete without the haunting music, almost like setting the stage up for disaster.
An amazing movie.. one that I couldnt get out of my head for days after that.
Rating: A full 5 *****
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