Episode 93 - Requiem for a Dream

[00:00:00] Welcome back to Movie Mistrial, the podcast where we put cinema's greatest hits on trial. I'm Johannes and alongside me, as always, is Raji. If you're new here, we're all about questioning whether some of these films truly deserve the spot on the IMDb Top 250. And today, well, we got a big one. Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, currently sitting at number 93 on the list.

[00:00:22] That's right. It's a movie that people either hail as a masterpiece or vow never to watch again because it's so brutal. Requiem for a Dream doesn't just want to entertain you, it wants to devastate you. But does that emotional sledgehammer approach earn it a place in the Top 250, let alone number 93?

[00:00:47] Yeah, because while Requiem is undeniably impactful, we've got to ask, is it just too much? Does it deserve to be in the same league as more rewatchable classics? It's one of those films that you appreciate, but can you really love it? And is that enough to keep it on the list?

[00:01:04] Exactly. It's one of the most visually interesting films out there, no doubt. But does it make it Top 250 material or just an intense one-off experience? Like your arm. Today, we're going to dissect those performances, the direction, the haunting score, and figure out whether Requiem for a Dream truly earns its place amongst the greats.

[00:01:27] Grab your popcorn. Actually, maybe not this time. And let's get into it. Does Requiem for a Dream deserve to stay in the IMDb Top 250 or is it just a disturbing trip we'd rather forget?

[00:01:39] Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

[00:02:00] Requiem for a Dream is a psychological drama directed by Darren Aronofsky, exploring the devastating impact of addiction on four individuals.

[00:02:08] The film follows Sarah Goldfarb, her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion, and his best friend Tyrone, each spiraling into their own destructive obsessions.

[00:02:17] Sarah with weight loss and television fame, and the others with heroin.

[00:02:22] As their dreams become warped by their dependencies, the lives descend into chaos and despair.

[00:02:26] With powerful performances and Aronofsky's unique visual style, Requiem for a Dream is a haunting portrayal of human condition,

[00:02:33] the fragility of hope, and the nightmarish consequences of addiction.

[00:02:38] All right, my friend, we have to flip a coin.

[00:02:42] And before we flip a coin, we've got to address the elephant in the room.

[00:02:47] Is it Requiem or is it Requiem?

[00:02:49] I grew up in Nigeria. I've always loved my accent, but I've always called it Requiem for a Dream.

[00:02:58] But, you know, there was a little bit of a hustle during the conversation before we started the podcast,

[00:03:04] and Johannes was letting me know it was Requiem.

[00:03:09] And it's one of those scenarios where I grew up calling it Hippopotamus.

[00:03:14] And when I came to America, somebody said to say it's Hippopotamus.

[00:03:18] And I was like, I grew up in Africa.

[00:03:21] We get to name the animals.

[00:03:28] Well, you know, technically, I grew up in Europe.

[00:03:32] We get to name words.

[00:03:33] That's true.

[00:03:34] So I will try to appreciate the fact that it's Requiem.

[00:03:39] But for those people who've been devastated listening to the pronunciation through the intro,

[00:03:45] my bad.

[00:03:49] It's all good.

[00:03:50] You know, we can move on from here now.

[00:03:54] But OK, let's flip a coin.

[00:03:57] What's it going to be?

[00:03:59] I'm going to go with heads, my usual.

[00:04:01] Heads it is.

[00:04:03] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:04] So for this movie, I'm going to argue for this film.

[00:04:07] All right.

[00:04:09] All right.

[00:04:10] Be like that.

[00:04:14] All right.

[00:04:15] Cool.

[00:04:16] Let's get going.

[00:04:18] The witness will address this court as judge or your honor.

[00:04:21] Your honor.

[00:04:22] Requiem for a dream.

[00:04:24] As we alluded in the intro, it's not a very rewatchable film, which is fine.

[00:04:32] Not every film has to be, you know, has to be the most rewatchable thing ever.

[00:04:38] But it's it's basically just suffering porn.

[00:04:44] We watch a group of people, the son and his mom and the friends, the junkie friends of the

[00:04:53] son kind of go through terrible things and kind of the general cycle of addiction.

[00:05:00] And it's not super appealing.

[00:05:03] It's kind of gross.

[00:05:05] It's depressing.

[00:05:09] And it's not really anything earth shattering in that because it's a tale as old as time.

[00:05:18] Like as long as people have found the substances they can be addicted to, we have had these

[00:05:24] stories and there's nothing there's no growth coming out of anybody, really.

[00:05:29] Um, it's all just a cycle because that what addiction kind of tends to do.

[00:05:36] And, um, out of no growth in this film, we get very one dimensional characters because

[00:05:43] it is just, just the addiction.

[00:05:45] Um, there's nothing really that, that, there's nothing really that anybody learns here.

[00:05:54] It's just suffering.

[00:05:56] It's suffering for two hours and it's, it's really depressing and in a way not, not really

[00:06:03] that worthwhile to watch in that sense.

[00:06:05] Um, the only concession I make is the, the filming techniques that are very interesting, keep you

[00:06:13] engaged.

[00:06:13] Um, but it's kind of a distraction from the story at hand and kind of a sleight of hand

[00:06:18] because it's flashy with the, with the editing and, and the repetition of things kind of almost

[00:06:24] like that's trying to get you addicted to things and kind of drawing you into the film kind of

[00:06:31] manipulation style.

[00:06:32] Um, but it's kind of distracting you from the, at core, very uninteresting story.

[00:06:38] So, you know, thank you, Johannes.

[00:06:43] I want to, Johannes, not your highness.

[00:06:47] Um, these both work.

[00:06:49] Okay.

[00:06:50] I will say that, you know, the movie is a one dimensional track, um, and an unflinching

[00:06:58] take on what addiction really is about.

[00:07:00] And in a sense, it can only be one directional.

[00:07:05] Um, it's an unflinching look into how addiction wrecks the individuality and takes you on this

[00:07:12] one track, um, one track train down the road to humiliation and degeneration.

[00:07:20] So in a sense, we follow the story of four individuals.

[00:07:26] Um, Ellen Burstein, who plays the mother of Jared Leto in the movie, obviously has the strongest

[00:07:34] portrayal.

[00:07:35] And I think at some points in this movie, I kept going, is she really crazy?

[00:07:39] Because she feels like she's doing it naturally.

[00:07:44] I felt like her acting was just off the chain and she got an, an, an, an Academy Award nomination

[00:07:51] for her role in this movie.

[00:07:53] Um, and it was well-deserved because she acted as the linchpin for this movie because, you know,

[00:08:00] she started off as the normal woman who was lonely in New York.

[00:08:05] Um, and she gets a phantom phone call.

[00:08:08] And you know, the truth about that phone call is I'm not entirely sure that phone call actually

[00:08:12] ever happened.

[00:08:13] It could have been a fiction, a fiction of her imagination.

[00:08:18] It was kind of, um, disputed when she got the mail, uh, which says that she could, she needed

[00:08:26] to sign a document to be on TV, but I don't know.

[00:08:31] I, there's no guarantee that what she heard on the, on the, um, on the phone call was a,

[00:08:38] was not a misheard statement just because she's so recluse and lonely all the time.

[00:08:45] And once she becomes less, once she gets the idea of being on television, she becomes a whole

[00:08:51] new character rather than staying at home.

[00:08:54] She wants to go outside and flaunt that idea to all her friends.

[00:08:57] She wants to go out, talk about it with her kid.

[00:09:00] She wants to tell everyone about it.

[00:09:02] She wants to fit back into her red dress.

[00:09:04] She's been watching television so much.

[00:09:06] She wants to be on it.

[00:09:08] And that idea of being on television leads her down the path to speed.

[00:09:13] Um, and she ignores all the red flags, all the telltale warnings and slowly degenerates.

[00:09:20] Um, into a psychosis that leaves her entrenched in the world of television.

[00:09:28] And that whole storyline was just visually striking, emotionally draining, but also extremely

[00:09:38] engaging.

[00:09:38] When the fridge was reaching out to her, the way the camera captured her face when she

[00:09:43] turned back and she heard the sound in her mind, all of those scenarios were captured powerfully

[00:09:49] in this movie.

[00:09:50] And we get to see addiction through the eyes of the addicted.

[00:09:55] And, you know, the interesting thing was that towards the end of the movie, she's on the,

[00:10:01] she's trying to get to the studio and she's on the train.

[00:10:05] And since we know her story, we can relate to her, but we've seen those scenarios.

[00:10:10] I was in New York and I saw that particular scenario happen to me too, where somebody was

[00:10:15] screaming or shouting at the train, saying all sorts of weird, telling all sorts of weird

[00:10:20] tales and reaching out to people across the aisle.

[00:10:23] Um, and this movie kind of puts those, puts those people on an empathetic track, you know,

[00:10:30] like, all right, there's a chance that this person's just going through this particular

[00:10:35] scenario and Ellen Burstyn captured that entirely well.

[00:10:39] The soundtrack, the Luxettina was also impressive.

[00:10:44] You know, the interesting thing was I found out it was written for this movie.

[00:10:46] I thought it was like some old track that just repurposed, but you know, that was very,

[00:10:52] that's, I'm addicted to that song.

[00:10:54] Just to, just to be clear.

[00:10:56] Um, but yeah, this is some of the things that I'm going to say about this movie that are positive.

[00:11:01] Hmm.

[00:11:02] Hmm.

[00:11:02] I'll, I'll put a pin to some of the things you said for the, for the sidebar, but, um,

[00:11:08] the, the big problem here, you know, let, let, let's be real.

[00:11:16] The big problem is that, um, I think addiction stories are always the same, right?

[00:11:25] Because addiction, like ultimately the chances of there's only three ways really, right?

[00:11:31] That addiction stories can go.

[00:11:34] There's either what we're seeing here in Requiem for a Dream for everybody involved.

[00:11:39] It's the bad outcome.

[00:11:41] It's the bad version, right?

[00:11:44] Um, second outcome is rehab.

[00:11:49] We've seen that time and time in movies again as well.

[00:11:53] Um, arguably there's something more interesting to unpack because then you can go into more,

[00:11:59] more, more into why and all that.

[00:12:02] And, uh, you, you can have better character moments that are not just focused on getting

[00:12:07] the next hit and kind of using the repetition of it all.

[00:12:11] Um, because I think that, that at the core is kind of the thing that makes this film,

[00:12:16] um, kind of a slog to go through because it's, there's not a lot that happens in a way,

[00:12:24] right?

[00:12:24] Like that it's, it's just kind of going from fix to fix to fix to fix to fix.

[00:12:28] And then, um, you know, with the, with the junkie idea of, well, if we sell our own stuff,

[00:12:35] we can get rich and, you know, all our dreams are good, but we have to quality control our

[00:12:40] stuff.

[00:12:40] Right.

[00:12:41] We're just like, oh, it's such a cliche thing, but the problem is that's, that's junkie

[00:12:46] brain, I assume.

[00:12:47] Right.

[00:12:47] Um, which again, it's like this loop of, it's so expected because that is the way we've

[00:12:55] seen junkies behave on film for ever.

[00:12:59] Right.

[00:12:59] So we, we have the bad outcomes.

[00:13:01] We see that for everybody here involved, right?

[00:13:04] Like he gets his arm cut off.

[00:13:06] She's like, his girlfriend is alone and, and prostitutes herself.

[00:13:11] Um, the, the black guy is in jail.

[00:13:14] Great.

[00:13:15] And then his mom is basically a lunatic now.

[00:13:18] Right.

[00:13:19] Um, so, so that's a bad outcome.

[00:13:21] Um, the rehab outcome is kind of competing.

[00:13:25] Also usually goes with, with, uh, with the big conflict of, um, you know, falling back into

[00:13:33] it and all that.

[00:13:33] And then the good outcome is being able to, to grow from it and stop the addiction.

[00:13:38] That's rare to see.

[00:13:40] And I think almost more compelling because it is rare to see.

[00:13:45] Uh, I think the kind of the challenging thing in this film is that, um, it is so one note

[00:13:52] that it's, it's really on the nose and really trying to be so, um, you know, I'm raising

[00:13:59] my, my index finger of like, no, no, no, no, no, don't, don't be a junkie.

[00:14:04] This is what happens.

[00:14:05] That, uh, ultimately what we're learning is not something that's like.

[00:14:10] A revelation.

[00:14:12] It's like the expectation where we go, go in.

[00:14:14] And that's what I mean with like, there's no, there's no real progression.

[00:14:18] There's no real arc that is happening here because it's like, okay, these people are all junkies.

[00:14:26] And this is the expected outcome because it's kind of the standard of junkie films.

[00:14:31] And, uh, the only thing that differentiates this film is just the style, you know, and the

[00:14:37] style is, is interesting, but again, it's kind of this repetitive thing, right?

[00:14:42] So it's, it's, it is kind of a style over substance more than anything.

[00:14:49] And it is, um, manipulating you into also kind of being addicted to, oh, the style is really

[00:14:55] good.

[00:14:55] The music is really good because the music is repetitive AF as well.

[00:14:59] So it's, it's just this like, okay, I need the next hit.

[00:15:02] I need the next hit.

[00:15:03] I need the next hit very much like the characters, but it's very dissatisfying.

[00:15:10] Um, I, I'm going to, I, I'm going to, um, argue against the point where you, you know,

[00:15:17] there are two things that you can say about this film.

[00:15:19] Um, one is that it's, um, it's on a one track, which is fair.

[00:15:26] I think what eventually happens is addiction gets you on a one track, but I wouldn't say

[00:15:31] that the characters are one dimensional at all.

[00:15:36] Um, let's go through some of them.

[00:15:39] Let's talk about a character that Ellen Burstyn plays, Jared Leto's mom.

[00:15:43] Um, she's going through, she lost her husband.

[00:15:48] She's watching her son sell his TV for junk, uh, for money, for a hit.

[00:15:54] Um, and she slowly, um, grows wary of her son, hides in a room when he appears.

[00:16:03] Um, and then she gets a hit from an, an, uh, an article or a phone call saying, Hey, we

[00:16:09] can be on TV.

[00:16:11] And, you know, and that brings out the spark in her rather than accept being old.

[00:16:18] She goes, all right, I'm going to go change the color of my hair.

[00:16:21] I'm going to wear the clothes I wore to his graduation.

[00:16:24] I want to, I want to start to live life again.

[00:16:28] Um, but to do that, I have to lose weight, goes to the doctor.

[00:16:32] She starts to take the pills.

[00:16:34] Um, and she remarks that she's feeling better about herself than at any point.

[00:16:40] Leave me alone, she says to her son.

[00:16:43] Um, and then she further goes down that track and it eventually leads to her demise.

[00:16:49] The son and the girl, um, played by Jennifer Connelly and General Jared Leto, were looking

[00:16:57] to start a, a shop where she gets to show her artistic nature.

[00:17:02] So these characters have depth is basically what I'm trying to say.

[00:17:06] Um, and a lot of their depth were erased by the fact that they couldn't get the next hit.

[00:17:11] And in a sense, yes, you're right.

[00:17:13] This movie is just a, a situation where we go from one hit to the next.

[00:17:19] But I think that we shouldn't erase the depth of the characters.

[00:17:24] We even, even the character played by Marlon Wayans, um, had a lot of depth in the film.

[00:17:29] Um, we see his, um, his childhood with his mom.

[00:17:34] Um, the sense of warmth that his mom gave.

[00:17:38] And you, as he sat down, um, on his bed, Luke staring at his picture, he felt, I feel

[00:17:45] like there's a sense of longing for that period in time.

[00:17:49] So, but he cannot, he cannot look back because the, the idea of the next hit forces him to

[00:17:58] make some very stupid decisions.

[00:18:01] Um, and the interesting thing about the movie is because of that certain level of depth where

[00:18:08] they took a picture in front of an office in, in the summer of one year, um, and they were

[00:18:13] so happy.

[00:18:14] And when the, the, the addiction, the, the drugs ran out, they were writing the name of

[00:18:21] the drug Lord, uh, at the back of the paper, uh, and covering that period, that summer where

[00:18:28] they actually enjoyed themselves, uh, with the darkness that was going to be to, to return.

[00:18:36] That number led to him going to jail and getting his arm caught.

[00:18:40] Cut, cut.

[00:18:41] That number led to Jennifer Connelly going into a diddy party.

[00:18:45] That, that number was, um, was a, was a point of contention for a lot of things.

[00:18:53] So it's like, there's a, there's a degeneration that happens, but I feel like there would, there

[00:18:59] was a level of depth to the character that I would like that to be acknowledged.

[00:19:05] Uh, I'm, I'm not sure that a cutaway to one scene of the Marlon Wayans characters as

[00:19:11] a kid with, with his mom is sufficient enough to give him depth because otherwise like what

[00:19:17] we're seeing is not a lot.

[00:19:19] Right.

[00:19:19] Right.

[00:19:20] Like he's, he's not super present in this film.

[00:19:22] Um, I don't know.

[00:19:26] And Jared Leto's character doesn't have a lot of depth either.

[00:19:30] I don't think there's, there's, there's just not hot there.

[00:19:34] Um, with her, Jennifer Connelly, yeah, she has aspirations as a, as a, as an artist, as

[00:19:43] a designer, but like that never materializes either.

[00:19:47] Right.

[00:19:47] So it's like, like we all have aspirations.

[00:19:50] Um, does that give us any depth?

[00:19:52] Uh, I don't know.

[00:19:55] Right.

[00:19:55] I don't know.

[00:19:55] I mean, aspiration is what definitely gives you depth.

[00:20:00] It shows that you have desires.

[00:20:02] You have interests.

[00:20:03] You have wants.

[00:20:04] You have a skill that you want to exploit.

[00:20:09] Well, I mean, I don't know if that's necessary skill.

[00:20:12] Right.

[00:20:12] But I mean, uh, but okay.

[00:20:16] Um, now with the mom, I think there's not, there, there's not the depth that you think

[00:20:24] there is, because I think the conflicted to bring it up now.

[00:20:31] But, uh, I, I, I think the thing that's happening here is that the mom is already addicted before

[00:20:39] she's, she's getting the pills.

[00:20:41] Right.

[00:20:42] She's already addicted to TV.

[00:20:45] Yes.

[00:20:47] So the idea of being on TV and the, the kind of street fame she would get from her peers

[00:20:57] from that is what is the next fix she tries to get, which is why that, that phone call

[00:21:05] is so effective.

[00:21:06] Right.

[00:21:06] It's, it's kind of the, um, it's kind of the, the, the calling, the literal calling of

[00:21:14] like, you, you, you get what you want, right?

[00:21:17] We give you a taste of, of the fame.

[00:21:20] And then that kicks off, um, her, her little journey.

[00:21:26] But at, at the core of it, her little journey is so connected to, to the addiction of her

[00:21:33] already, that even that is not necessarily a lot of depth because this, this film was

[00:21:39] so hyper-focused on addiction and showing addiction that it's, uh, so flat with that

[00:21:49] because it's only focused on that, uh, because everything that happens is basically because

[00:21:55] of addiction.

[00:21:56] You need to get your fix for whatever you're addicted to.

[00:22:00] But I would argue with you that the, the, the interest was that there was, she lost her

[00:22:07] husband and that created a vacuum of loneliness in her life, which she filled with television.

[00:22:15] And I think that that's the depth that I'm talking about.

[00:22:18] And there's no guarantee that after, before he died, she was a TV fiend.

[00:22:24] But after he died, he had, uh, maybe she was addicted to her husband.

[00:22:29] Who knows?

[00:22:30] But, but my argument is that, um, and any addiction, you feel something right.

[00:22:36] Like, like, like, I, I don't think they're doing heroin, um, just out of nowhere.

[00:22:43] Right.

[00:22:43] So they're, they're filling it for, for one reason or the other.

[00:22:46] Or that's not getting, giving it necessarily depth because it's like, um, that reason might

[00:22:52] be peer pressure.

[00:22:53] That reason might be, Hey, I need, you know, I don't have any friends, but I need to fit

[00:22:56] in.

[00:22:56] And all these people are here and doing this right now.

[00:22:58] Maybe I fit in.

[00:22:59] Right.

[00:23:00] Like that's not necessarily giving you depth in my opinion.

[00:23:05] Well, I mean, I guess what I'm just trying to, I think the argument that I'm making is that

[00:23:11] the characters are not, maybe they're not fully fledged 3d characters, but they are, they're

[00:23:17] not, they are, they do have a sense of depth in a movie that is one track.

[00:23:21] And I don't think this movie needed to go into multiple layers to try to capture the whole

[00:23:27] point.

[00:23:27] The whole point of this movie is the one track mind you needed to get to when you get

[00:23:32] to, when you're addicted to something.

[00:23:34] And in that sense, the movie does a good job, but I don't, I don't think the movie shies

[00:23:38] away from the fact that these people also have their own personal ambitions.

[00:23:43] Jared Leto, he has an ambition to run, uh, a company where he gets to make a lot of money

[00:23:51] doing drugs.

[00:23:52] That is a goal.

[00:23:54] That is an ambition.

[00:23:55] And he almost convinced himself that he wouldn't do the drugs, um, as part of the whole process

[00:24:03] so that they could make the maximum profit.

[00:24:05] Uh, and they were well on track for that until the drugs got cut off.

[00:24:11] Um, and then they started to go through the whole spiral down, down grade, uh, down the

[00:24:19] drain.

[00:24:19] So it's like, they have depth already.

[00:24:22] I, and what are we get to see it in life form or we get to see a tool and a half hour masterpiece

[00:24:30] on the depth of these characters being erased.

[00:24:33] And we've argued against that for a long time in this, in this podcast where movies go on

[00:24:38] too long.

[00:24:39] Um, I think that the glimpse into the depth was enough for us to get an idea of where

[00:24:45] their minds were, uh, or should I say their minds are.

[00:24:52] Or where their minds should be or are going.

[00:24:56] Yeah.

[00:24:56] I mean, I, I think I get your argument, but I also think it's, uh, again, it's very

[00:25:06] dissatisfactory, right?

[00:25:08] Because it's, again, like everybody has ambitions and kind of objectives and, and all that, but,

[00:25:15] but nothing, nothing gets resolved.

[00:25:17] And I guess that's a big lesson, right?

[00:25:19] The, the, the big, if you do drugs, like all your ambitions, hopes and dreams will just

[00:25:23] crumble.

[00:25:25] And that's what we're supposed to take away from this.

[00:25:27] I assume.

[00:25:28] I don't know.

[00:25:30] Um, but again, it's like, like that from, from a learnings perspective, that's not something

[00:25:37] revolutionary.

[00:25:38] That is something that's coming as a PSA with, with any kind of drug.

[00:25:43] Well, not with any kind of drug, but with, with the majority of, of drugs, um, as you

[00:25:50] know, so it's like, I'm just not super convinced that as a watcher, there's a lot to be taken

[00:26:00] out of this film that, um, is kind of giving you something new.

[00:26:07] Okay.

[00:26:08] Um, I mean, sure.

[00:26:12] It, I mean, I, like we've, I think we've talked about the fact that this movie is very one, um,

[00:26:18] one dimensional in its direction.

[00:26:21] Um, I, and I think in a sense, we've talked about the level of depth that is involved in

[00:26:28] this movie.

[00:26:29] Uh, I, I'm not entirely sure how much more we can add to it in a sense.

[00:26:34] Um, maybe we should go into the, uh, sidebar to the sidebar and, and have a little bit of

[00:26:41] a discussion.

[00:26:42] Overruled.

[00:26:42] Sidebar.

[00:26:43] Guilty.

[00:26:44] Speculation.

[00:26:44] Here's safe.

[00:26:44] Bailiff.

[00:26:45] Briefcase.

[00:26:45] Disregard.

[00:26:46] In my chamber.

[00:26:46] Stop Bieber on the witness.

[00:26:47] Arrest.

[00:26:48] We could totally be lawyers.

[00:26:49] Sidebar.

[00:26:52] Sidebar.

[00:26:53] Um, so to me, the, the, it is kind of the question.

[00:27:00] Essential drug film.

[00:27:03] Okay.

[00:27:05] Because like, I tried to tread carefully, um, because I think the strength here is, is the

[00:27:10] mom.

[00:27:11] And the strength here is the contrast that we're seeing between, uh, the illegal drug side

[00:27:18] of things that her son and his peers are going through and what happens to them versus the

[00:27:25] legal side of drug addiction.

[00:27:27] That is media consumption.

[00:27:29] That is pills that a doctor prescribes you.

[00:27:31] And kind of that, that, uh, seeking for fame, um, kind of addiction to being in the spotlight.

[00:27:39] Um, how, how those are very similar things, but treated very differently.

[00:27:47] And, um, how, essentially how, how there's this, this kind of double standard, right?

[00:27:58] Like, um, the mother at some point says something like, um, oh, it's fine.

[00:28:03] It's my doctor prescribed him.

[00:28:04] Like, it's, it's fine.

[00:28:05] Right.

[00:28:05] He knows what he's doing.

[00:28:07] He never looked at her.

[00:28:08] He's just like, oh yeah, you're an old woman.

[00:28:10] You get speed.

[00:28:10] Right.

[00:28:11] That is happening in this country every freaking day, every freaking day.

[00:28:17] Right.

[00:28:17] And it's, and it's, it's like, um, and it's legal and it's fine.

[00:28:24] It's not fine.

[00:28:26] Right.

[00:28:26] But it's perceived as being fine because the doctor is, is prescribing this stuff.

[00:28:31] At the same time, you know, you have, you have the illegal drugs, um, that, that are

[00:28:39] villainized and probably rightfully so.

[00:28:44] Again, depending on what it is, obviously.

[00:28:46] Right.

[00:28:46] But, um, it's, it's like, uh, this double standard.

[00:28:50] So I think the, the, the brilliance of this film is showing that and kind of making you

[00:28:54] strangely enough, kind of making you feel bad for the mom, but not necessarily for the

[00:28:58] other people.

[00:28:59] Right.

[00:28:59] So this, what I was saying is like the repetition and, and all that, like this film is super

[00:29:04] manipulative, right.

[00:29:06] Because it is, it is lulling you in and it makes you, you, you see the downfall of the

[00:29:10] mom and it's so relatable because it's like, oh, she's this old frail woman.

[00:29:16] She just wants to have her five seconds of fame.

[00:29:18] She wants to fit in with her, with her friends and, and, and all that.

[00:29:22] She has all the hopes and ambitions and it gets crumbled by evil doctor-ness of it all.

[00:29:28] Right.

[00:29:28] And, and the, the, the messed up kind of perception that he has to fit into this dress

[00:29:34] because in order, like the beauty standards and the addiction around that.

[00:29:38] Right.

[00:29:38] So there's like a lot to unpack for her.

[00:29:41] That is brilliant.

[00:29:42] That makes you feel for her because it's like, oh, she doesn't deserve that.

[00:29:45] She's just this old lady that has like all the good attentions.

[00:29:48] She is enabling her son to, to, to sell and resell and resell and resell the TV.

[00:29:55] And she always wears it back.

[00:29:57] Um, she, she's kind of funneling the addiction and all that.

[00:30:00] We feel bad for her.

[00:30:02] I'm not sure if we actually, if, if we necessarily feel bad for Jared Leto and, and the other characters

[00:30:08] because it's like, but they did the bad thing.

[00:30:11] They're slinging drugs.

[00:30:14] Right.

[00:30:14] Yeah.

[00:30:16] Well, I mean, I, so like they said, when I was discussing the movie, she's the linchpin

[00:30:23] of this movie.

[00:30:23] She's the emotional connection for this film.

[00:30:26] Um, and I think that there's a, uh, if, if she doesn't work, this whole movie becomes

[00:30:35] a generic tale of, uh, of just a bunch of kids doing stuff.

[00:30:41] They needed somebody who seemed like they would be normal and who wouldn't be expected

[00:30:48] to be something like this.

[00:30:50] Um, and then watch her downfall.

[00:30:53] Um, I think the, the last scene where, uh, all her friends were sitting in front of the

[00:30:59] hospital, the psychiatric hospital and crying and hugging themselves is the kind of manipulation

[00:31:04] the director was hoping to get from the audience when it comes to her story.

[00:31:09] Um, and you know, all, all of those characters ended up going into a fetal position at the

[00:31:15] end of the movie.

[00:31:16] Um, which is obviously a manipulative, uh, way of the director to say, Hey, you're surrendering,

[00:31:22] uh, to your fate in a sense.

[00:31:24] Um, but I do think that one of the things that the, one of the things, while not so strong,

[00:31:34] I don't think it's devoid of depth for the characters.

[00:31:39] Um, I don't think the idea of the characters having depth is entirely excluded from the

[00:31:45] one track, uh, direction they were going in.

[00:31:47] I think the depth of the, the limited glimpse we had into that is probably what keeps us

[00:31:55] engaged with their story because we can look back and say, Hey, they were going in the right

[00:32:01] direction here, but then because they lost it because they didn't get drugs for a while,

[00:32:06] they go into the psychotic tirade and all of them experienced the same level of, of degeneration

[00:32:13] in a sense.

[00:32:15] Um, a woman who was generally okay ends up being in the psychiatric ward, getting her brain

[00:32:24] electrocuted, um, through the ECT methodology to try to get her back to normal.

[00:32:31] So in a sense, and, oh, and one of the things that I wanted to point out was she had no urgency

[00:32:37] or agency about it.

[00:32:39] But the doctors, basically, even the real doctors, they didn't really ask her for her

[00:32:45] consent.

[00:32:46] They just said, you can just put your John Hancock here, um, and we'll get this whole

[00:32:52] process started.

[00:32:53] So, you know, you're talking about the fake doctors who didn't even look her in the eye.

[00:32:57] The real doctors looked her in the eye and they still didn't get her consent for all of

[00:33:02] this.

[00:33:03] Nobody cared about her.

[00:33:05] So in a sense, the whole thing is a, is a cycle.

[00:33:10] Um, and the woman, the real woman in this whole scenario who was trying to do something

[00:33:16] just for the world, uh, gets lost in the, the medical, um, the medical loop, the black

[00:33:25] woman who gave her the injection without even consent.

[00:33:27] Nobody gave her, asked her how she felt about any of this.

[00:33:31] Um, and it was, it is sort of humiliation.

[00:33:37] The character loses all sense of control over her life.

[00:33:41] Um, and it's the same for the, for all the other characters, um, including, uh, the character,

[00:33:47] a character played by Marlon Wayans, who you know is going to be humiliated because he's

[00:33:53] in a prison full of white people who are obviously going to be racist to him.

[00:33:59] And you could see how uneasy he was just from the hospital.

[00:34:05] And then all of those fears are confirmed when the, uh, the officer punches him in the

[00:34:11] face and uses the N word on him.

[00:34:13] So it's like, there is, it's a relentless humiliation that is going on.

[00:34:19] And the characters have no sense of control any longer.

[00:34:23] Jared Leto wakes up with his arm cut off.

[00:34:26] Um, and he's lost a girl he's always dreamed of, but their sense of addiction was so strong

[00:34:33] that they make decisions that go against their own self-interest.

[00:34:36] So that's the depth that I see in this movie.

[00:34:40] Jared Leto Yeah, but, but, but, but again, I, I guess my argument that there's, there's

[00:34:45] nothing revolutionary to that, right?

[00:34:47] Like, because every, every drug film is basically that, right?

[00:34:50] It's like, uh, you do drugs, you, that, that's going to be a downfall.

[00:34:56] And, and that's kind of the, the quintessential drug narrative, right?

[00:35:01] And, and again, that's, that's why I'm saying like, there's three outcomes and in classic

[00:35:04] drug tales.

[00:35:06] Uh, and it's, uh, like, this is the, the, the bad one, right?

[00:35:11] Jared No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say so.

[00:35:13] I wouldn't say so.

[00:35:14] I wouldn't say all drug movies end up like this.

[00:35:19] Jared Right.

[00:35:20] And that's not my argument.

[00:35:21] I'm saying this one is following the, uh, drugs are bad and, and are you downfall?

[00:35:26] There's the, there's the redemption arc, uh, going to rehab kind of thing.

[00:35:32] It's, it's, there's that.

[00:35:34] And then there's the, there's redemption going to rehab and falling back into it.

[00:35:39] There's redemption going to rehab and being free from it.

[00:35:42] And there's the, you know, I, I just fixed my life and I'm better.

[00:35:46] Jared I think there are a lot of movies that go specifically on the junkie train.

[00:35:54] There are lots of people who are outside of the junkie train, who are looking in to the

[00:35:59] junkie train.

[00:36:00] We see the junkies.

[00:36:02] I probably shouldn't be using the word junkies.

[00:36:05] We see the addicted, should I say?

[00:36:08] Um, the people who are addicted to this, um, drugs who come in and out of the story.

[00:36:14] Uh, but the main story never evolves about around people who are truly addicted.

[00:36:19] We never get to see the truly addicted folks go down the spiral of degradation.

[00:36:26] I mean, we see people who do drugs and stuff happens, but they never go down this route.

[00:36:34] We've seen people who deal drugs and sell drugs to people.

[00:36:40] And they have a sense of remorse in some scenarios, or they are entirely fine with their decisions

[00:36:48] in other scenarios.

[00:36:49] But we don't see a lot of movies that are specifically about the people who are addicted to it and

[00:36:55] how the addiction just takes them down this one train track all the way down.

[00:37:03] Well, I think the, the biggest competitor to this film is train spotting.

[00:37:07] Okay.

[00:37:09] Right.

[00:37:09] We have the same train spotting.

[00:37:11] Oh, okay.

[00:37:12] Okay.

[00:37:13] Um, so I won't go, go into it too much, but it's, it's kind of, it's there in a way there's

[00:37:20] similarities here.

[00:37:21] There, there's not, I, I think it's more nuanced.

[00:37:25] Okay.

[00:37:26] Um, but it has kind of similar visual ideas to kind of reflect, um, being high, being on

[00:37:36] a drug, uh, it has kind of similar music stuff that's happening.

[00:37:41] Um, and I think there's a lot more depth in the characters there.

[00:37:46] That's why, that's why I'm saying like compared to train spotting, the characters in this

[00:37:51] film are shallow AF.

[00:37:53] Um, and, but, and that's why I'm saying like, this is kind of the quintessential drug movie.

[00:38:01] Um, if, if you just want to focus on the, the kind of allure and, um, just kind of the,

[00:38:12] the repetitiveness of trying to get the next fix and kind of the, the sneakiness of drug

[00:38:17] drugs, this one is a little more effective because it's been able to manipulate you so

[00:38:24] much into that repetitive, repetitive thing, right.

[00:38:29] By using these fast cuts of drug use by using the constant TV thing.

[00:38:34] That's always the same.

[00:38:35] Um, and all that.

[00:38:38] Right.

[00:38:38] So it's kind of giving you that kind of expectation.

[00:38:42] It's like, Oh, this is familiar now.

[00:38:43] That's, you know, so, so it's like luring you in a little more.

[00:38:47] It's, uh, interesting from that aspect.

[00:38:50] And that's why, and, and since it's tackling, um, everyday mundane things that addict you and

[00:38:57] not just heroin.

[00:38:59] Um, I think that's what makes this a standout because it's showing the legal way to, to your

[00:39:06] downfall, uh, versus the, the classic drug movie, uh, druggy movie is more, well, you

[00:39:14] do heroin and what do you expect?

[00:39:16] Right.

[00:39:16] Like that, that it's a new kid, right?

[00:39:21] Don't do drugs.

[00:39:22] Right.

[00:39:22] But I think this one is, is a lot more effective because it is like, well, actually there's

[00:39:28] a lot in our everyday world that is designed to be addictive and it starts with like false

[00:39:37] ideas of what other people, what you think other people have of you.

[00:39:42] Right.

[00:39:43] And then how you adjust to that.

[00:39:45] So I think there's, there's a lot there that is very brilliant.

[00:39:48] Yeah.

[00:39:51] I guess in a sense, I agree with you.

[00:39:56] Um, but I think what you've described also is the depth of the film where the environment

[00:40:02] is also a character in this movie.

[00:40:05] It's the depth, depth of the film, but not the characters.

[00:40:08] Right.

[00:40:09] Sure.

[00:40:09] So yes, I agree.

[00:40:11] Right.

[00:40:11] The film is deeper than you think.

[00:40:14] Okay.

[00:40:15] But yeah, I would, I mean, the main question then becomes, do you feel like it deserves to

[00:40:21] be in the IMDb top 250?

[00:40:25] 93?

[00:40:27] Um, again, I brought up Trainspotting.

[00:40:32] I, I, hmm.

[00:40:34] Do you think Trainspotting is a better film than this?

[00:40:38] I think so.

[00:40:40] What about Trainspotting 2?

[00:40:44] Eh.

[00:40:46] Eh.

[00:40:47] I don't know.

[00:40:48] But I, I think I like Trainspotting a little more than this.

[00:40:51] Okay.

[00:40:52] I have to see Trainspotting.

[00:40:54] Um, I think there was a couple of hoopla hoos when the new one arrived.

[00:41:00] Yeah.

[00:41:01] But I haven't seen the original.

[00:41:04] But, but yeah, speaking of sequels, I guess.

[00:41:07] Yeah.

[00:41:09] What a, what a, what a classy, what a classy, what a classy, what a classy, it's like, uh,

[00:41:14] well, I lost my, my train of thought.

[00:41:17] Transition.

[00:41:18] What a classy transition.

[00:41:19] Yes, transition.

[00:41:20] Exactly.

[00:41:20] What a classy transition.

[00:41:22] Oh, next film will be Toy Story 3.

[00:41:26] Toy Story 3.

[00:41:28] I'm looking forward to that discussion.

[00:41:29] I think Toy Story 3 will finally be the enlightenment hoop that takes us out of this mountain of depression.

[00:41:37] Yeah.

[00:41:37] Come and see to, to requiem for a dream.

[00:41:43] See, I said it correctly there.

[00:41:44] And Capiton.

[00:41:45] Yeah, we had a bunch that were really, really depressing.

[00:41:48] Oh man, it's been, it's been a ride.

[00:41:51] It's been a goddamn ride.

[00:41:53] Yeah.

[00:41:53] So Toy Story 3 is next and looking forward to that.

[00:41:57] Until then, where can people find us?

[00:42:00] You can find us on Facebook and you can find us on Instagram at Movie Mistrial.

[00:42:05] Or you can send us an email to...

[00:42:07] Contact at Movie Mistrial.com

[00:42:09] All right.

[00:42:10] It was good chatting with you all.

[00:42:12] Hope you guys have a great weekend.

[00:42:13] Thank you, Johannes.

[00:42:14] Johannes.

[00:42:15] Thank you.

[00:42:15] Your Highness.

[00:42:16] Your Highness.

[00:42:19] Stop.

[00:42:23] All right.

[00:42:24] Ciao.