Round-up 13: Requiem for a Dream and Co.

I refuse to listen to my inner monologue that continuously begs whatever is driving my critical decision-making processes to please, pretty please, watch something positive and uplifting. Even if it’s just a dumb comedy to pass the time. Instead of doing this, I seem to actively seek out the most disturbing films possible as some type of backwards mental stimulation. Inject the fear straight into my veins, especially late at night when I know it’ll influence my dreams. This is once again the major theme of the week, with a couple of notable exceptions where my conscience clearly gave up and had to associate with something positive.

This being said, I started the week off finishing up Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin (2004). Yes, I said finishing up, as it took me two and a half nights to get through this emotional behemoth. Between numerous graphic depictions of sexual abuse, a couple of children (yeah, you’re reading this right), and a stark, yet dirty approach to the themes that worm their way into your psyche and refuse to let go. The first night, I thought that giving it a break would let me breathe. I was wrong. The story follows two boys who were both sexually molested and raped by their little league coach and go down radically separate paths as they enter adolescence. The first boy becomes a rebellious gay prostitute who engages in dangerous physical encounters that compound with his refusal to journey into his past. The second boy regressed during the entire encounter and has convinced himself, instead, that aliens abducted him. His retreat into fantasy only eventually leads him to the truth, as the plot cleverly weaves their lives together in the finale. Brutal, honest, and realistic in its portrayal of the children and the abuse they endure, so much so that this is a very difficult film to recommend, to anybody, for that matter. But one I won’t ever forget, for better or for worse—impactful filmmaking.

In a desperate attempt to recover from Araki’s traumatic film from the night(s) before, I got a couple of drinks together and sat down to rewatch one of my favorite animated films of all time, Shrek 2, which coincidentally also came out in 2004. Not a whole lot to say about this one other than if you haven’t indulged in the Shrek saga, particularly the first three films, you are missing out on some of the most clever “children’s” films ever written. The final twenty minutes or so play out so perfectly that many of the innuendo has to be caught on repeat viewings. Again, this breaks the formula of the typical family-friendly film by intelligently injecting adult references and quips throughout, sometimes at a rapid-fire pace. Must-see cinema, and yes, I stand by cinema. Not to be lumped in with contemporary Disney films, that’s for damn sure.

Next, I watched a short film by a friend of a friend, one Jack-Henry Lee, entitled Phallic Don is Dead (2024). The short is entirely hand-drawn and then animated; this alone is immensely impressive given the scale of the story being contained to such a tight runtime. The sincerity of the artistic approach is offset by a goofy, yet graphic and simple story of two characters’ beef. Watching it a second time, I was personally noting the way in which the simplicity of the story makes the rest of the effort look “easy”, when there’s no chance in Hell it was anywhere close to that. Short films like these deserve just as much respect as their feature-length counterparts, and these days, I don’t feel that they do, except to the cinephile crowd. Go out and seek this one and others like it; you won’t be let down.

How did I wrap up the week, you might ask? This is the kicker. About four or five years ago, I became exposed to the auteur, Darren Aronofsky. Best known for diving into the deep recesses of human activity and never holding back from their graphic realities, I purposefully steered clear of his work for the most part, out of respect for my own (lack of) sanity. This being said, there is one film of his that many have referred to as his magnum opus, and one that solidifies Mr. Aronofsky as one of the great contemporary filmmakers. I refer to his now-infamous film, Requiem for a Dream (2000). I’d seen The Whale (2023) and Pi (1998) and enjoyed the latter for its uniquely dark and chaotic approach to paranoia and anxiety on film; the former, I barely stomached my way through (no pun intended). So, what about this, magnum opus? Requiem for a Dream earns every ounce of respect and infamy it has earned over the years. This is not for the faint of heart whatsoever. The story follows an interconnected group of diverse characters in the slums of New York City in the 90s as they struggle through progressively worse addiction. Jared Leto leads the cast as a young son and boyfriend who comes across a “great idea” to start slinging the drugs he and his friends are so hopelessly addicted to. This starts a domino effect of horrific personal events that only accelerate their path to self-destruction. What stood out to me personally, however, was the role of the mother, played by Ellen Burstyn. She starts off as an innocent lady scared shitless of the abuse by her son. She’s all alone in the world aside from him since her husband has died, and the throughline of her story revolves around a desperate attempt to get on television after getting a scummy phone call. This is where her addiction begins, and is easily the most distressing aspect of the film. She gets hooked on a cocktail of uppers and downers prescribed by her doctor to lose weight, and is soon lost in a world of hallucinations that only get worse as time goes on. The film culminates in a montage of horror as the cast of characters faces the wrath of addiction’s final moments. This will not be soon forgotten, and I won’t say I regret watching this. That being said, I cannot recommend this one in good faith unless you are in a good place mentally and emotionally. Once again, powerful filmmaking that really gets under your skin.

            As of writing this, I have yet another disturbing film to discuss, but I will save it for next week’s round-up. That’s enough darkness for one week. Trying my best to keep it balanced, but for whatever reason, recently I’ve really had my mind in the gutter for these types of films. Embracing the discomfort of realistic stories like these is a reminder of the big picture perspective on our own problems. As always, I encourage engagement in the comments below! Have you seen these films? What did you think? Until next week.