Darren Aronofsky

*****
5/5

The creeping menace of addiction — in all its forms — is the subject of Darren Aronofsky's powerful adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr's novel. Junk TV shows, diet pills and Class A drugs are the lifeblood of these doomed characters. Ellen Burstyn is the widowed mother hooked on game shows and sweet foods, whose desperate bid to lose weight leads to hallucinations and increased loneliness. Her heroin addict son (Jared Leto) and his friend (Marlon Wayans) pawn the TV for drugs money, while Leto's girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) degrades herself at stag parties. Making stylish use of the split-screen technique, huge close-ups and exaggerated sound effects, Aronofsky depicts the highs and lows of drug-taking — to chilling effect. Like Trainspotting and Drugstore Cowboy before it, this is a powerful and unnerving trip into the narcotics dependent darkness of modern America.

(2000)
US   Colour   96 mins