I felt compelled to write a review of Requiem For A Dream simply because it blew me away. I had vaguely heard of it for a while; I knew that it was about drugs, it was supposedly good, and that was about it. However, I recently stumbled across it on my trusted font of cinematic knowledge, IMDb, and discovered that not only is it by the director of Pi (another critically acclaimed film); not only is the director, Darren Aronofsky, married to Rachel Weisz; not only is he the guy who's made The Fountain (that film which got booed off at the Venice Film Festival); but that it was also voted as one of the top 58 films of all time. I also read that the last fifteen minutes of this film is the most harrowing thing you'll ever see. I was interested.

Sara's son Harry (Jared Leto - American Psycho, Alexander) is a heroin addict with big ambitions. Along with his friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans - Scary Movie, Little Man (no please don't stop reading)) he plans to deal some cocaine and make a bit of money from that, before expanding his operations to finally get enough money to live comfortably. With some of the money, he'll also help his beautiful girlfriend's (Jennifer Connolly - A Beautiful Mind, Hulk) failing fashion shop.

Requiem For A Dream isn't easy viewing, I'll tell you that. Forget the Marlon Wayans you know, and picture him as a believable, serious actor. Difficult I know, but if you're expecting any sort of comedy or even any light relief in this film, you'll be disappointed. It's also very violent, there's some graphic sex, and an awful lot of substance abuse as you might expect (it received the NC-17 rating in America when it first came out, virtually banning it from most cinemas), so it's not for the easily shocked. However, although it might sound too bleak for you, there are some extremely important redeeming features.

In a film this visually stunning it could be easy to be distracted from the characters and performances, but all involved are outstanding. Yes, even good old Marlon Wayans. Admittedly, he's the least memorable of the quartet, but he still has on-screen presence and fully convinces. Jared Leto is fantastic, even though his part isn't that complex really, and he makes you feel sorry for Harry, even though he's a thieving druggie. The two women are incredible. Jennifer Connolly is a brilliant actress as she proved in A Beautiful Mind (apparently she's getting praise again for the recent Little Children), and here she gives possibly the performance of her life, accompanied by a willingness to go to extreme lengths for the cause of the film.

And still, even that isn't my favourite part of the film. At least one star of my rating belongs to the soundtrack, composed by Clint Mansell and featuring the Kronos String Quartet. For the most part it's an unsettling, eerie electronica piece, which is perfectly matched to the mood of the film. But there are moments when the music takes off and grabs you by the ears. An orchestral version of it was used on the trailers for Lord of the Rings, so you might recognise it from there the first time you watch this film, but here it's in the original form and it's absolutely stunning. Combined with the most powerful scenes in the film, it's such a sad piece of music, and it's partly why the end of the film is so difficult to watch. Without a doubt it's one of the best pieces of film music I've ever heard.

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