Friday, December 20, 2013

At the movies

Think Kit Day 20: Silver Screen (lifeline)

What movie made the biggest impact on you this year? Describe the feeling upon leaving the theater (...or sitting on your couch).

---

One morning this past summer (as in 2ish a.m.), I decided to watch Requiem for a Dream, which was streaming on Netflix.

The decision made me feel like this.

It is an excellent movie. Absolutely stunning. But it also -- and you need to say this slowly to truly understand -- fucked me UP.

The movie is all about drug addiction and its effects on different folks: a lonely, widowed mother who gets cracked out on speed and television; her heroin-addicted son and his friend; and the son's girlfriend who has her own host of drug-related problems.

Ellen Burstyn plays the mother and was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, which was well deserved. She lost to Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich. I used to really love Julia Roberts. I was all swept up in the Pretty Woman madness (shut it; I was 17 when the movie came out) and even liked Erin Brockovich, but finding out she snagged the trophy away from Ellen Burstyn made me want to pop Jules in the nose. (Her smarmy I-grow-my-own-organic-food! tirades don't help. We get it, Gwenyth Jr.)

I highly recommend the movie with the following caveats:
  • It is NOT for anyone under the age of 18, and even that's pushing it.
  • It is not a horror movie in the sense of ree-ree-ree slasher in the shower, but it is horrifying.
  • Don't watch it alone. In addition to being unsettling, it's a SERIOUS conversation starter and you will be frustrated if there's no one to talk to when it's over.
  • Don't think "Eh, I've watched episodes of "Intervention." I got this."
Good luck. I'll be thinking of you.

No comments: