A Night on Drugs

   (For more dramatic effect, listen to the above song while reading)   
    Have you ever seen a movie that has left you speechless? I have.
    I can think of a few movies in which I couldn't say one word after. Precious (based on the novel Push by Sapphire), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, United 93, Schindler's List....and that's all I can think of at the moment. But tonight, I took an accidental nap and woke up at 9PM and decided to watch a movie. I've had this movie on my list for years, I just haven't gotten around to it. Now that I have, I don't know if I can ever go back to it.
    I just finished Requiem for a Dream. I have never read the book and I can't even imagine what the book is like, but I knew the movie would be top notch. And it was. It is so incredibly well done. The acting is really just outstanding. Ellen Burstyn really becomes Sara Goldfarb. I was blown away by the whole thing. I was also incredibly scared.
    If you've never heard of the film or read the book, the story surrounds 4 people living in the New York area who develop or have developed drug addictions.
    This movie is rated R, but if you want to scare the crap out of your kids from using drugs, this is the movie. It creates an incredibly real picture of life as an addict and how SPOILER ALERT drugs kill your dreams...and therefore eventually kill you.
     It just amazes me how a simple two hours of staring at my television screen can change my life forever, make me look at everything in a completely different way.
    Burstyn's character is an avid television watcher. (sound familiar?) She gets a phone call saying she has been selected to be on a television show. She immediately drags out her red dress and tries to slip into to prepare for her TV debut. The dress does not fit. She decides to try some different diets, but when none of them work, she sees a doctor who gives her a prescription for diet pills. (IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE WITHOUT SPOILERS, SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH) She becomes hopelessly addicted to them and destroys her life and her dream of being on television, while unbeknownst (that's a silly word) to her, her son has a heroin addiction that is essentially killing him. There is a scene toward the end of the film where Burstyn's character goes to the television producers and asks them when she is going to be on television. She goes on and on about her red dress and her son and her deceased husband. It is heart wrenching and fabulously real, which is the scariest part.
        I'd imagine playing a role like that has to screw a person up in some ways for a little bit of time, too.
        It is now 3AM. There is no way I can sleep after that film. And no way I'll probably ever be able to watch it again. The ending is so incredibly powerful that it hurts my head. Most of the movies I listed earlier, probably with the exception of Precious, I could watch again. I don't see myself watching Requiem again any time in the next 30 years.
        I'm just amazed that something so powerful and so real....isn't actually real. It's acting. It's direction. It's a made up story with some real life elements. It is truly art. I haven't seen a really actually terribly good movie in a long time and I didn't realize it until I watched this one tonight. I remember what movies are about and what they can do, as well as what a good film looks like. Think of a movie that's brought you to tears or left you speechless. Think about how those films have made you look at your own life, have changed you in ways.
         I'd like to be in a movie. Not like. I'd LOVE to be in a movie or two or ten. A movie that could make people laugh when they are feeling low, or leave an audience speechless, or have them crying over my death or my incredible recovery from an injury to become a star soccer player. A movie that will inspire someone to blog about it like I'm doing right now. Hopefully someone important is reading this and will just shoot me an email and ask me to be in a movie. ;)
      ANYWAY
      I'm in awe of what a movie can accomplish and reminded of what inspired me to jump into the communications and film world. Movies and television provide enough escape from your life. Don't kill your dreams with heroin. (Erica's Lesson of the Day)