Darren Aronofsky Double Feature: Pi & Requiem For A Dream

Darren Aronofsky Double Feature:
Pi & Requiem For  A Dream

Darren Aronofsky started his career making two of the most cerebral and disturbing films that I have seen with Pi and Requiem For A Dream, before going on to make films like The Black Swan, Noah, and Mother.   His first feature length film Pi, in 1998 is a cerebral thriller about a man who is a mathematician who is obsessed with finding the numbers behind the complete order of the world.   Though the obvious plot of the film revolves around math, and how numbers control the world, there is an underlying story about mental health, which is a common theme in Aronofsky's films.  It is likely that the main character in Pi is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.  

Pi was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, and distributed by Artisan Entertainment.  Aronofsky raised most of the money for the film from $100 loans from friends and relatives, with some other funds raised as well.   The total cost of making the film was around $134 thousand, however it was a surprise box office success grossing $3,221,152 in the box office, and has continued to be a well selling DVD.  The film was has also been highly praised by the critics, Pi started off by being quite successful at the Sundance Film Festival, winning several awards.   The movie was filmed in high contrast black and white reversal film, which gave it such a gritty black and white look.

Pi stars Sean Gullette as Maximillian "Max" Cohen who is a mathematician, Mark Margolis as Sol Robeson who is Max's close friend, Ben Shenkman as Lenny Meyer a hasidic Jew that Max makes acquaintance with because of his interest in numbers, and Pamela Hart as Marcy Dawson who works on Wall Street and she wants the numbers that predict the stock market.   Aronofsky wanted to have a multicultural cast, to reflect the real New York City, where the movie was filmed.   Most of the movie was filmed in Bushwick Brooklyn, with other scenes shot illegally without permits in the subways of New York City and also on Coney Island New York. 

Pi is not a beautiful film, it is dark and gritty, and just absolutely wonderfully done.  This film is uncomfortable, as we see a man losing his grip on sanity as he goes further and further down the rabbit hole of obsession about the numbers and how they control the world.   This is not a film full of physical action, but more so about psychological action.   I definitely appreciate this film, and feel like it is a must-see for anyone who appreciates experimental psychological thrillers.  Great film, and if you have not yet seen it, I highly recommend it.  Pi definitely should be a part of every film collectors collections. 

Aronofsky's second feature length film came out two years later in 2000, with Requiem For A Dream.  This is an unforgiving dark and gritty film about addiction.  This film is probably one of the most real looks at addiction that I have seen in a film, this film is bleak, it is depressing, and very uncomfortable to watch, and I think that it is a must-see film.

Requiem For A Dream was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and was written by Aronofsky and Herbert Selby Jr, and based off of Selby's 1974 novel of the same name.   The film was distributed by Artisan Entertainment, and was a minor box office success, grossing $7.4 million with a budget of $4.5 million.  The film also received mostly positive reviews from the critics, though despite that holds an average score on film scoring sites like Rotten Tomatoes.   

Requiem For A Dream stars Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb, Jared Leto plays her drug addict son Harry Goldfarb, Jennifer Connelly plays Harry's girlfriend Marion Silver, and Marlon Wayans plays Harry and Marion's best friend Tyrone C. Love.  The film also features Christopher McDonald as Tappy Tibbons a game show host that Sara Goldfarb watches all of the time.  Returning from Aronofsky's previous film Pi, Mark Margolis plays Mr. Rabinowitz, and Sean Gullette plays Marion's psychiatrist Arnold.  Hubert Selby Jr and Darren Aronofsky both make cameos in the film as well.  It is jarring seeing Jennifer Connelly, who played the young girl in The Labyrinth playing a drug addict that is so addicted to heroin that she has sex for drugs and money, and seeing Marlon Wayans who played Snails the comedic sidekick in Dungeons & Dragons (which came out earlier the same year) playing this role.  I think that helped to make the film even more uncomfortable.   The maine actors all prepared for their roles in their own way, from Jared Leto living on the streets with real life addicts, to Connelly actually living in an apartment in the building that the film would be filmed in, and shutting herself in, and actually making her the wardrobe that she would go on to wear, as well as going to NA meetings and talking to addicts, and Wayans and Burstyn also did similar research for their roles.  

I often used adjectives like "beautiful" to describe films that I really like, but that would be grossly the wrong term for this film, this film is ugly, this film is gritty, this film is uncomfortable, and this film is amazing.  This film not only looks at drug addictions, but addictions in general, whether it be hard drugs like heroin, pills, or coke, or prescription drugs like diet pills or even marijuana, but it also looks at addiction to television, religion, and other non chemical addictions as well.  This film is really a warning of how bad addictions can get, which in a way Aronofsky's previous film Pi also in its own way dealt with the ideas of addiction.  This is not an easy film to watch, nor should it be an easy film to watch.  As someone who used to do heroin, I can say that this film captures the reality of addiction very very well, how all things can lose meaning when that addiction needs to be fed.  Aronofsky not only captures the realism of this film through the story, but also through how it is shot, the quick cuts, the experimental uses of shots and quick cuts, all go to create this uncomfortable tone that perfectly captures what the filmmakers is trying to make us feel as we watch it.   I also like that the majority of the movie is filmed and set on Coney Island, especially in the area of Brighton Beach, and the Boardwalk.   For the scene where a drug dealer is selling out of a truck at a supermarket, the filmmakers actually hired real drug addicts for the shot to add an element of realism to the scene, things like that were done throughout the film.   Requiem For A Dream also uses more special effects that Pi did, and the effects look really well done and quite realistic.

This is a must-see film, though I do understand that it isn't for everyone.   I have read Requiem For A Dream described as one of the most depressing films ever made, whatever you might expect from this film, do not expect anything remotely resembling a happy ending, follow these addictions to their logical ends, what you get unnervingly resembles what you get in real life.   Like I said this film is amazing, but it is not beautiful, it is ugly, and it is also very very real.   Watch this as a cautionary tail, this is not a film to watch as entertainment, you are sick if others suffering entertains you, watch this for its mirror to real life, watch it to remind yourself that there is a darkness that lies beneath every town city and neighborhood, addiction is everywhere and it could strike any of us.  I once lived in a squatted apartment, and many of the other people there were addicts, and I realized that I was only a few decisions from being exactly in the same place, we all are.  Anytime you see an addict, or a drunk, or a homeless person, or anyone that you might think is less fortunate than you, that you could be there if just a few things go wrong, you could be there if you just make a few wrong decisions in your life.   We are no different from them, none of us are, so it is important that we have understanding and compassion for our fellow humans, this film is nothing more than a mirror to reality, to a reality that could befall any of us.  

Darren Aronofsky's early works are dark and gritty films, that take a look at reality, and don't try to sugarcoat it and make them feel safe.  Both of these film look at obsession and addiction, and both films use experimenta shots and techniques to create a story that is disorienting and uncomfortable.  Some directors try to shock you with gross out effects, but with Aronofsky the shocks and fear come more from th the cerebral effects, and the way that the films are shot and cut, though Requiem For A Dream also has a bit of gore to just totally hammer home the dangers that the film is warning you about.  These are great films, from a wonderful and visionary director.   Both of these films are definitely must-see films and have a place in any collectors library.   If you have not seen either of these films I highly recommend checking them out, but do beware that there is definitely some uncomfortable material in both of these films, and it is good to be in the right frame of mind before watching either one of them.