Requiem for a Dream - S11 E89

For our seventh, and decidedly not warm and fuzzy episode in the season, Sarah’s crafty programming has us plunging into Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000)!

Expect praise for Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-nominated performance as Sara Goldfarb which had crew weeping on set. We unpack the performances of Jared Leto, alongside Jennifer Connelly, as their grand aspirations turn into a spiral of despair exploring the dark side of films about toxic relationships and the pursuit of happiness.

Was that Shooter McGavin?!

Find out how the film tackles the often-overlooked prescription addiction alongside street drug use, and how it uses split screen to underscore the pervasive theme of loneliness.

And why did Keith David show up late to the party?

What to expect from this episode:

• We explore why Darren Aronofsky views directing like conducting an orchestra.
• Sarah explains the multiple meanings behind the film's title, "Requiem for a Dream".
• The hosts discuss Jared Leto's controversial acting methods and why Dan enjoyed his character's suffering.
• We analyse Aronofsky's distinctive visual style, including his famous quick cuts and use of SnorriCam.
• Dan speculates on a Happy Gilmore sequel starring Christopher McDonald's character from this film.
• Sarah and Dan debate whether the film contains intentional comedic elements, despite its grim subject matter.

Season 11 runs until August 11th with 8 episodes

Would you like to see the full lineup for season 11? The only place you can see it is on Patreon but you don't need to be a paying member. Sign up for a free membership and get access to the lineup.

If you do have some loose change consider signing up as a paid member. Our £3 a month Patreon tier will grant you access to all of our end of season wrap shows for seasons 1-10 and a minimum of 2 reviews of brand new movies each month. Plus the back-catalogue of reviews from 2023 and 2024. 

Enjoy the show but can't support us financially? We get it. You could submit a review on the podcast player you're reading this on right now. Or if you listen on Spotify and you haven't given us a five-star rating yet, what are ye waiting for? It's easy.

If you've done some or all of that and still want to do more, we would love it if you tell a friend about the show.  

Or come find us on social media:

Instagram | TikTok | Threads | YouTube

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shoot the Hostage with me Sarah and my partner Dan. We're a movie podcast and we cover eight films per season on a specific theme. Now, we swear we chat major spoilers and we occasionally cover triggering topics. So, please do use listener discretion. If you like what we do and want to support us, consider hitting five stars on Spotify or maybe subscribing or even reviewing on your platform of choice. We also have a Patreon with a free tier for lineups and updates and two paid tiers with extra content and early adree uploads. Right, on with the show. So, this has been a very pleasant, uplifting, feel-good season. could run of movies that have made me feel good about myself in the world.

(00:01):
I feel like my choices generally do that.
Make me feel feel
all warm and fuzzy inside. Yeah.
Warm and fuzzy. Yeah. Like a cup of hot chocolate.
Mhm. And definitely never the opposite of that.
No. It's like what if this week you had programmed in one of the notoriously most bleak movies in the history of cinema?
I mean, I would never do that. you.
No, you wouldn't.
No.
Cuz uh Requim for a Dream is not a bleak cinema experience, is it?
It's a familyfriendly comedy.
Watch it with your kids.
Yeah.
If your kids say, "Papa, papa, could we please watch Queen for a Dream?" You go, "Yeah, lad. Let's put it on tonight. Let's do it."
And then you definitely wouldn't have a child that's scarred for life and saying, "Dad, what does ass mean?"
That's a phrase I was not expecting to hear in this movie. So, you'd never seen this before. That's a good jumping off point.
Let's push off from there.
Okay.
Uh, yeah. For I mean, I'd avoided this film like the plague.
You So, you'd actively avoided it. It wasn't just that you hadn't got around to watching it.
Well, yeah. I mean, it's one of those that is very highly rated, highly regarded.

(00:22):
Areronowski is a filmmaker that is someone that people enjoy a lot. Sometimes, mostly,
it feels like you're trying to be really diplomatic. Aronoski is not my guy.
That's fine.
I don't I like I like some of his stuff. I haven't seen
I've probably only seen in maybe half if if that of of his output. It feels like a lot of his stuff probably is not quite for me.
Yeah. Like I never bothered with Noah because I know that that's not my bag.
Yeah. Yeah. I had no interest in that at all to be honest with you.
Um but I've seen a couple of others. But yeah, this the fact that it was Areronowski and was meant to be very very bleak
was like, you know, well, you know me, I I don't really seek out bleak cinema. If something's notoriously depressing, I'm probably not going to watch it. Or, let me rephrase, I wouldn't have watched it prior to us meeting, but now we're together. I've seen all of these
AF movies.
Done.
What?
How's your mental health?
Surprisingly, not bad, actually.
Okay. So, I just wanted to check in and make sure I hadn't been like a negative influence. on you. Okay, that's good to know. Well, I've only seen this film maybe twice, like only a couple times. This would have been the third.
You own it on Doveda.
I do, but in terms of movies that get repeated viewings, like some of them are bleak, but it's not often that I would reach for like some of the movies that we've programmed in this this theme. For example,
how many times you seen Climax?
Three. Look, there are exceptions to the rule. Okay. But yeah, so this was the one that actually birthed the theme. And it was largely because you told me that you'd never seen it before.
And I have discovered that a crafty way of getting you to open your mind to cinema you wouldn't otherwise partake in is to program it into a season.
I didn't realize that's what this podcast was about. I thought it was about having fun.

(00:43):
Um Why not both?
Okay.
Yes. Sarah, I have seen this movie now.
I mean, look, let's be honest. I would never have watched Driven if I'd had the option. Okay, so there's a bit of give and take here.
Yeah, true. Except no one gets addicted to heroin in Driven.
Well, maybe they should. It would have been marginally better.
Maybe everyone on that film should have been on heroin and it would have been better. You're right.
Instead of what? They were on
cocaine. It was
potentially allegedly
might be the most cocaine movie that's ever been made.
No, I refuse to believe that. Can't be.
It's a It's a It's a bigger cocaine. It's got bigger cocaine vibes, I think.
Fair enough.
This one doesn't have bigger cocaine vibes cuz it's all a bit mellow and just bleak.
Der.
How many times am I going to say bleak in this episode? And der. Yeah, that's a good one.
Um, a lot, I'm guessing.
Take a a Do do a do a heroin every time.
Oh, don't do that. Don't do that.
For legal reasons. Do not do that.

(01:04):
I The message I got from this movie is that drugs are great and everyone should do drugs. Is that the wrong message?
Happy, happy, joy, joy.
Yeah. Have a You're to have a great time. There are no consequences.
Um, that is in fact the wrong message. Yes.
Right. Okay.
Yeah.
So, I don't know why I programmed this in quite so close to the end because this does feel particular. particularly cruel on my part.
But you were thinking about putting it at the very end, right? But you could end on this.
Yeah,
that would have that would have been a downer for both of us.
Yeah, I think that was the right move.
I think this is a good spot for it cuz you're sort of building up. This is one of the most notoriously drug movies/blake. Do a shot of heroins.
No, don't
don't do that. Do a shot of water.
Stay hydrated, folks.
But I think it was a good place. Um, well, I know what we're ending on next week as well, and I'm I'm kind of looking forward to that. Uh,
well, that one was me throwing you a bone,
right? Okay. We've we've exchanged bones.
Yeah.
Hey, less of that.
Well, I don't know what that noise was.

(01:25):
I don't know, but I love it. Please keep that in.
I was gearing up to uh to say something, but I don't know what that thing was.
Don't edit that out. Promise me.
I'm not going to.
So, the title reququ dream. We both looked up the word reququiam the other night because I had a I had a pretty good grasp of what it meant, but as you know, I'm terrible at defining things. So, it's kind of like um There we go. I should have just had like a dictionary definition up in front of me, shouldn't I?
Dictionary corner.
Yeah. Where's Suzie? What's her face when we need a Suzie Dent? We need a Suzie
Dent studio with Jimmy Carr, I imagine.
Yeah. Getting paid a lot more than we can afford. Um Yeah. So, it's kind of like a How I want to say like a funeral piece like it's a composition of music or
its alternative meaning is u like a Catholic mass.
I think both of which um a a service a church service.
Okay. I assumed it was something different from like a a volume of
it's just a Catholic large volume of
material
matter.
Matter. Yeah. That's Yeah. Okay. So it's a music thing. It's a choir thing for I think both definitions kind of apply for this film, but I know that Aronowski intended for it to be the the musical definition.
Why?
Um, well, he approaches directing as a conductor would approach uh leading a piece of music.
Okay.
He sees them as kind of not necessarily interchangeable, but very similar. And I can kind of see it here. I again, I don't know enough about the and his work to sort of comment on that on a wider scale. But definitely here, I mean, did you notice that the first thing we effectively hear is during the scene where Ellen Buren and Jared Leto, we'll talk about him later, their characters are interacting for the first time, and it's it's obvious that she's his mother. He's going around to steal something to fund his uh his addiction, which is in the early stages, shall we say. And the First thing we hear are the sounds of an orchestra kind of winding up like tuning their instruments. It's really discordant and there's no structure to it. So it literally is kind of like the orchestra gearing up for their reququum which I really appreciated and can't say that I'd noticed on previous viewings.
So was it the start of that score that plays throughout then that Clint Manel?

(01:46):
Yeah.
Was it that tune? Cuz that I feel like that was playing from start to finish.
It does crop up. quite a lot. Um, not just in this film, but in just in general life, that song has been used.
Yeah.
So much.
Cut for Cars, you name it.
Um, most notably the trailer for Sunshine. I think that's where I remember hearing it the most. Yeah,
cuz that's got a great score that that was also used in lots of other adverts.
Yeah.
How weird.
Very strange. But yeah, it was used in adverts for I think Lord of the Rings, Two Towers, I am Legend. like it it's been used in games
and it was an original piece for the film.
Mhm.
That's interesting cuz I know that score very well because of all these examples that you just thrown out to me.
Did you know where it was from?
No, I had no idea. So, I was very surprised when it started playing.
I was like, "Oh, I know this." It's a I love that piece of music as well.
So, I was pleasantly surprised by that. Um,
did you expect to be pleasantly surprised during this?
Not at all. Not at all. No. And my my experience was was kind of um with the film was was not what I expected either.
It wasn't what I expected your your reaction to be to be perfectly honest.

(02:07):
I think there's a point at which you turned around to me and said is this a comedy?
Yeah, cuz it was quite funny
and I responded with you might be a sociopath
but it is quite funny. There's some of it that's quite funny.
I don't find it funny.
Okay. So is the music thing and then for a dream is because it's their dream. dreaming.
Well, each of the characters has like an individual dream, don't they?
Oh, like aspirations in that sort of dream.
Mhm.
Right. Okay. Yes. They do. They have these grand ideas, don't they? The things that they want to do with their life.
Mhm. Jennifer Connelly wants to pursue fashion in some regard. She wants to open a shop. U Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans are doing drug deals to work their way up the ladder. And I I feel like that's a thing that's a trope that we see a lot is just like we we'll just do this till we earn enough startup capital for something else. But it never works out that way.
I think that's a thing we've seen before.
And obviously Ellen Buren's dream is to go on what's his name? Tappy Tappy Tibbons.
Tap Tappy. Yeah.
Tappy Tibbons game show.
Yeah. Is it a real game show or is it all in her head?
Uh oh, right. Within the world of the movie, you mean?
Yeah,
I think it's real.
All right. So, um, what's his name? Shooter McGavin.
Uh, Christopher McDonald.

(02:28):
So, he in this world, he is a game show host.
Yes.
I quite like that casting. I think it works as a game show host.
I think it's great. Yeah.
I said to you while we were watching it, actually, I feel like it this could be a sequel to Happy Gilmore and he's actually a Shooter McGavin character after he gets rinsed by uh what's the main character's name in Happy Happy Gilmore?
Oh, I couldn't tell you.
Uh the Adam Sandler, that character when he gets rinsed by Adam Sandler's character in Happy Gilmore.
Mhm.
He like gets all depressed and then couple like gets cancelled cuz he eats all those pieces of s*** for breakfast and then a couple of years go by he sort of emerges and becomes a like a self-help person and he does it is it a quiz show or is it like self-help quiz like what is it
so that confused me
Tony Robbins but crossed with like a name an American quiz I don't
so it's really funny you mentioned Tony Robbins because Aronowski did name check him as the inspiration for that charact well one of the irations for that character.
He also eats pieces of s*** for breakfast.
I bet he does.
Yeah.
Weird 9 foot tall misogynist. Strange strange man.
He's a strange man. It's a strange be. Yeah.
But yeah, I can definitely see that influence and I guess you could too. Um let's talk about the cast then. I think everybody here is maybe at the top of their game.
I don't know.
This is I've never seen Marlon Way better.
You've obviously not seen White Chicks.

(02:49):
I have seen White Yeah.
Have you seen Senseless? That was Marlon Wes, wasn't it?
Senseless. I don't think
Nobody has.
Okay.
Well, you you probably program it into a season then, wouldn't you?
Um, yeah, but that's a comedy, so
Yeah. Okay.
And ripped horns in it.
Uh, White Chicks was supposed to be a comedy, I think.
I have heard that. Yeah.
Yeah, I heard that, too. I remember
people weirdly enjoy that movie, though.
Why?
Yeah, I don't know either.
Like, it came out when I was 20. I think and maybe I rented it or whatever. I got my hands on it somehow. Hopefully I stole it and no one earning any money from me. But uh yeah, they it was awful. I I didn't I think I got about half an hour in was like is this what this is? This is bad.
This is this is not good.
Yeah.
But yeah, I wonder if that Marines's role in Recqueen for a Dream informed his character in White Chicks at all. If there's any through lines there.
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of crossover.
Maybe White Chicks is a sequel to Recqueen for dream because Marlon Wnes doesn't get an arm off in this, does he?

(03:10):
No.
So, it could be the same character.
I mean, I'm going to stop you right there and say that I think maybe you need to stop finding ways to work Reququum for a Dream into other movie universes. I don't think it's going to work.
Yeah. I mean, aside from those couple of things, not a huge don't know much about Marlon Ways.
No, other than he comes from a huge dynasty. There's like 12 of them.
Yeah.
Um but I can't say I'd ever seen him in a serious role before. And actually he's not bad.
So Ellen Buren. Um Sarah Sarah Jennifer Connelly.
No, she was Sarah in Labyrinth.
She's not called Sarah in this.
No. Uh no. Ellen Buren's character is called Sarah.
Oh, that's what I'm thinking then. Um
she's called Marian.
Jared. She's called Marian. Jared Leto. Marlon Ways. Like you say, big four in this movie.
Uh what What is your opinion on Jared Leto? You're a big fan of Jared Leto, aren't you?
I feel like we we need to start putting a a disclaimer at the start of every show just saying that everything that comes out of Dan's mouth is sarcasm.
It's bollocks.
Yeah, it's either rubbish or sarcasm. Well, I don't know.
Listen to one episode.
I don't know. Um, no. Jared Leto is not my favorite person at all. I think he's um Is scum too strong of a word?
No, don't think it's strong enough.

(03:31):
Uh, it was quite enjoyable to watch him suffering in this movie. Let's just say that.
Yeah, that that maybe took a little bit of the pinch of the ending away for me, you know.
Did it? Yeah.
It wasn't quite as emotionally impactful cuz you were like, "Take the other arm as well."
Yeah. If I Exactly. If I'd have seen this when it came out, I probably would have been like, "Ah, really sad, bleak movie, whatever." Uh, but now I'm just like, "Oh, yeah. Okay. He's got an arm off. What a tragedy.
Um, yeah, that does I I can see what you mean about that sort of taking the edge off. Um, did you know that this is our second Ellen Burston movie?
I did.
It's our second Keith David movie.
Yep, of course.
It's our second Jennifer Connelly movie.
Yep.
It's our second movie set at Coney Island.
Yep.
Uh, is that it? There were a lot of um a lot of seconds.
Uh, we haven't done a letter. Have we?
No. Thank god. I think we've purposely avoided them.
I'm sure we've spoken about him this season about something though cuz So maybe that TV show you used to watch.
Oh, maybe my Soal Life. Yeah.
Yeah. There's some connection there. I think
Claire Danes Broke Down Palace.
Claire Dane's. That'll be it. Okay.

(03:52):
Look at us remembering conversations we had two weeks ago.
Yeah. Lots of lots of seconds. Um Ellen Buren obviously this movie request thing in Both of those movies, I think.
Agreed.
And I quite like both of them. The film.
So, you think she's better than Nicholas Cage in a Nicholas Cage movie?
No,
she's great. She is great.
She doesn't get that much to do in the whole
She doesn't show up till like an hour into it. So,
yeah,
it's not a fair comparison, I suppose.
But she's very good in this. Very good. She I think she's the standout in this film. I think she has the most diff difficult job out of all of the cast
for sure.
I mean, even though Letto had to have an arm whipped off,
which obviously he did because his method
his full method.
Yeah,
he did hang out with her addicts and he lost a crazy amount of weight to play the role. So, it's a shame he didn't go all in on that one.
He's It feels like he picks and chooses what he wants to be method on. Like, I'm going to be in a wheelchair for MorbiiUS so you couldn't like these runners can f****** push me around cuz I'm a lazy bastard, but I'm not going to whip my arm off cuz that feels like it's going going too far.
The man who sends dead rats and condoms in the post to people.
Yeah.

(04:13):
Amongst other things, allegedly.
Didn't he admit to that? Is it still allegedly?
I'm saying allegedly more for the
for to cover our asses.
The other stuff the other stuff that isn't descending silly things in the post.
That's fair. Um but yeah, I agree that Ellen Buren is very much the standout in this.
She's great. Yes.
And quite rightly Oscar nominated.
Oscar Oscar Nom. Yeah. 2001
up against uh Roberts.
Was she Yeah. She lost Yeah. Eric Roberts in best supporting actress in a lead role.
For a talking cat.
Mhm. Yeah. Um no, she was beaten by Julia Roberts for a talking cat. No, for Aaron Brockovich,
which is another excellent performance, I concede. But I believe at the time there was a bit of outrage. as most people thought that Ellen Buren should have won it.
I would think I would agree with that. I I uh I like Erin Brockovich. Julia Roberts is great in it. She is I I wouldn't go, you know, here's me sitting in a chair saying, "Oh, acting's easy." It's not. I'm sure it's not. But like it feels like to me that might be something that might come more naturally, that performance, whereas this is a very Ellen Bur is doing a very specific thing.
Yeah.
And it must be quite taxing.
Oh. Uh, and she was on her own for a lot of it, you know. She What's she acting against? It's
uh Darren, Daz, I call him Daz.
Do you?
And um, and Buren probably in a room together, a few other key key crew members, I'm sure. But like the amount of work she has to do and that like the range she has to portray, I feel like is

(04:34):
I don't know. I give it to her over over Roberts. Again, I agree.
Love that movie. I think she's absolutely brilliant in that. And any other year, yeah, give it to Roberts. But that's a tough year.
Yeah,
I think Burst should have should have just nicked that, I think.
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
Yeah, I agree with the masses on that one. I think
um she's gone on record as saying that this was harder to film than The Exorcist, which was quite a punishing shoot.
Is she in The Exorcist?
Yeah, of course.
Oh,
she's the mom.
Oh, was she?
Yeah.
Um Yeah. I I don't know. I I read some stuff like obviously she lost I think about 40 to play the role because
I thought they had dollars in America. I don't use dollars or pounds. Lost 40 quid. Was it down the back of that?
Testing my patience.
Yeah. Well, it's the day that ends in white, isn't it?
So, yeah, she lost a bunch of weight cuz obviously they can put fat suits on her to make her look larger at the start of the film, but they can't really fake the emaciation. So, she had to for real lose a bunch. I think like 40 pounds, she said. Um, there were also I think she said there were like four or five different necks. prosthetic necks that she had to wear, two different fat suits, one that weighed 20 lb, one that weighed 40, and nine different wigs. And she was, like you say, on her own for a lot of it. And that was it sounded quite punishing, quite brutal,
but she was so good in her role that at least two people on set at different times report bursting into tears at her performance. Yeah. One of which was the guy who wrote the book that the film is based on. M
so based on book
another based on book

(04:55):
another based on book written by Hubert Selby Jr. Um who also co-wrote the script for the film with Darren Areronowski. I I actually read that Aronowski uh adapted one of Hubert Selby Jr.'s short stories for a student film. So I don't know if they'd already been in contact but he bought the rights to Reququum for a Dream for $1,000.
Wow.
Just after completing PI which was um American sock. Actually,
it's American sock.
But yeah, that was he said that that was a lot of money for him back then, but he's obviously really glad he optioned it.
Yeah.
And the other one was the cinematographer and it was the scene where Ellen Burston kind of has that monologue about how horrible it is to be old. Like everyone you knew is dead or gone. There's no one you've you've grown up sort of nurturing people. There's nobody left to take care of. Your friendships aren't real friendships. Your friend is the TV, hence this obsession that she's got. And the cinematographer started welling up and crying during that scene cuz Darren Areronowski didn't realize until he saw the the footage from the day and he was like, "Why the f***?" Like there was only a few takes of it and one of them the camera started drifting away and he was like, "Were you not paying attention?" The guy was like, "No, I was sobbing."
Right.
Yeah.
Fired.
No, no, no, no. That's the take they kept.
Oh, really?
That's the one they used. Yeah. Interesting.
There's some quite inventive techniques used in this film. I think
I I I do like the way that this story is told. I have to say, like when you programmed it in and especially when we sat down to watch it, going to be honest with you, not looking forward to it.
Yeah,
not at all.
No,
I just wanted to get it done.
But my experience with it, particularly for the first, say, hour and 10 minutes, was not what you might expect. I didn't find it hugely bleak
to begin with. The ending, we'll get to that.

(05:16):
The final 10 minutes is next level
and it's Yeah, we we'll we'll get to the ending obviously cuz that's the thing about this movie, but
for the first hour and say 10 and 15 minutes, I was having quite a good time.
So were the characters for some of it.
Well, yeah, but and I like that about it, too. Like going back to train spotting, it's not just going don't take drugs or or it's just bad people taking drugs. It's like uh the reason like people want to be happy or you know it's it's about that pursuit of of just getting through life and and trying to put a smile on your face or whatever. But I really enjoyed
just Areronowski's style, the the visual style that he used in this movie. The quick there's a lot of quick cuts.
There's a lot uh you mentioned about time lapse. They do a lot of play a lot with uh with time lapse.
I really I really enjoyed some of the time-lapse stuff. I thought it was really well done.
And yeah, and they b they bounce quite a lot around between different characters and stuff. And I think it could be quite easy to I know there's only four characters, but it they all of their journeys are parallel.
Like they're all part of a unit, but then also living separate lives. It's quite well done. And I think it would be quite easy to get lost between the four different strands if you like. But you Not I I'm not at all. And I I find it quite uh hypnotic actually like watching this and the way that it was told. I think um I just really liked it. I just really liked what he did with the editing and the visuals and and it's not the visuals but the music as well. And I think that that played a huge part. It does feel like a very What year did this did this come out?
Um I want to say 2000.
Yeah. Okay. So it does feel like a very 2000's movie. It looks like one. Like the
It feels really mean to say that it looks cheap, but by today's standards, it looks kind of cheap.
It I mean, yeah, it it I'm not going to deny that it does, but I I do feel like that adds to it.
It certainly doesn't take anything away.
I I I think even if you had the choice between sort of big budget and a lower budget for this, I think the right call is to to to take lower budget because you're that's what you're telling a story. You're trying to tell, I guess, a realistic take on addiction and you want to ground it in reality and and you don't want it you don't want to pretty it up, do you?
No.
So much. But so I
think that would definitely be the wrong move.
I think it I think that works in its favor. Yeah. Don't remake this movie with a $300 million budget.
I don't I don't think anybody's talking about that.

(05:37):
No,
not yet anyway.
And if you do, recast the Letto character to somebody else.
Anybody else?
To anybody. else put Shooter McGavin in that in that role.
What's his name?
Christopher McDonald. It's like the most
brown bread name. Christopher McDonald.
Yeah. All right. Well, I prefer shooting McGavin, didn't I?
Yeah. Well, it's easier to remember. That's why.
Well, I do. No, I I visually I think it's it's great. Um, how do you feel about it visually? Did it work for you? Did it did it tell the story for you and to to connect with the characters? Was there anything about the the visual stuff that you didn't didn't enjoy or did it
um
did it make you think about other other directors or
Yeah, for sure. I I mean obviously this came out in 2000, but I know that Areronowski sort of stated that he was inspired by um that not shown of the dead. No, but the overlaps between this like some of Aronowski's style here and Edgar Wright's kind of signature editing is you can't you can't didn't see that.
No, I I thought that too while we were watching it. It's funny that you mentioned it.
Yeah.
As well shortly after it popped in my brain.
Like if you walked in the room and you didn't know what was on the TV, you'd be like, "This is the darkest episode of Spaced ever."
Yeah.
I don't remember this one.
Let's got an arm off.

(05:58):
Yeah.
But never fear, he's got some f****** Java cakes in his coat pocket.
So, yeah, definitely some some parallels there. I don't know
if one influenced the other or it was just parallel thinking or what, but
I don't know.
But I definitely know that Aronowski was inspired by a lot of the hip-hop music that he grew up listening to in the 80s and '9s and the music videos that went along with them.
I know that I think there's over 2,000 cuts in this film,
right?
And the average is said to be about 6 to 700.
Did you count them?
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
No, I'm not that autistic.
Jesus.
Counting cuts. Counting cuts. No. So, so more than double the average number of cuts, which I think is pretty apparent.
It is. It is like I I noticed that it was we were doing very quick editing edit cuts here,
but it didn't sometimes that can jam me or or take me out of it. I guess it depends whether it feels like the director is using it as a gimmick or whether it's part of the used as a way to enhance the narrative. And I feel like that's what he did here. I feel that's what Edgar Wright does.
Yeah.
A lot of his films obviously are comedies. Um, you get all of the the quick cuts and the kind of arming up sequences in things like Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead and obviously the editing in um in Baby Driver, which I don't think gets talked about enough in that masterpiece of a movie,
but uh I feel like if you're going to do it, it needs to be part of the fabric of the movie or at least like I say, enhance the narrative and and help tell the story or put you in the place of these characters. And I felt like it did that in Reququeen for dream like every cut that they did to another character,
you're seeing the parallels between them and it's help telling you even the creative ways of cutting to

(06:19):
like um like an insert shot of a vessel filling up with liquid like and it's that's to to tell you, oh, they're doing drugs now. Yeah.
Like you don't have to show it. And it also like could have been quite a sneaky way to save money as well cuz prosthetics uh and the like fake syringes and all that like cost money to to get all of that.
So,
heroin's really expensive. Yeah,
heroin's quite pricey these days. Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's quite hard to get a hold of. Probably probably get it in a poster
these days. Yeah. Don't even have to go on the dark web anymore.
Reddit,
heroine.com. I don't know.
Um, yeah. I I think interestingly you bring up a really good point there and I'm going to sort of use Edgar Wright as a comparison again. I think you're right in that this sort of editing technique serves a real purpose here, whereas in something like Scott Pilgrim, which I voiced my indifference towards before on this podcast. Uh, I don't know. It just it feels a bit obnoxious in that movie. And I don't know if that's just because of some of the characters and them being very obnoxious and me sort of taking that and extrapolating that and taring everything with the same brush, but I don't know. You're right. Here it really does seem to serve a purpose, a narrative purpose.
And I think it's really interesting that the the cuts are chopped up in such a way that we're flitting back and forth between all four characters at once.
Yeah.
At several points throughout the movie. And I think that works really, really nicely.
I think it does, too, cuz I think about the there are few characters in this. There are four, as we said before, there's four kind of main characters in this. They don't do much. No,
there's a couple of, you know, they do there's a couple of times they venture outside, there's a gunfight, people get arrested. But a lot of the time they're sitting down doing some drugs.
And how do you make that compelling? How do you make that exciting? How do you make it in a way that Dan here,
notorious fidgeter and bloke what gets bored very quickly. Yeah. Is not going to be out within minutes. And I think that's your answer. Like I I don't know what I I like I said, yeah, was expecting to be fully depressed by this movie. Wasn't entirely. And I wasn't expecting to just be um kind of hypnotized by the the style and how it was made as well and to keep me engaged throughout when really they're not doing that much.
Yeah.
I think um to make that interesting is is is obviously I'm going to say here I think Areronowski is a very talented director and I think he's going to go far.
I think Yeah.

(06:40):
What a hot take. You think he's got a promising career ahead of
him? Let's keep an eye on this guy if If there's some way that you could buy like stocks and shares in a director, I think now is the time to get in on some the Aronowski stock. I think I think I I foresee big things for him.
Well, interestingly, he's got a film out very shortly.
Oh, yeah. It's got uh Austin Butler in it, hasn't it?
And Matt
Dman.
No.
Fleming.
No.
No. I don't Who's Matt Fleming?
I've got no idea.
Fruer. I think I meant to say Fer.
Definitely not Matt Fruer. The English guy who was in MorbiiUs. Matt Smith.
Oh, yeah. Oh,
the the the other most brown bred name in the world that I've forgotten.
Yeah, Matt Smith. Um, yeah, Morbiiius. Oh, what a movie MorbiiUses. I'm a Jared Leto masterpiece.
Obviously, we've voiced our dislike for the man, but how do you feel about his performance? Let's let's try and distance the piece of s*** that Jared Leto is and
just talk about
shoot McGavin Ty for first.
Um, and ju just tell me how you feel about his performance in this. Separate the man from the art if you can.
Do you know what? It's it's it's kind of it's kind of difficult for me to think about anyone that's not Ellen Buren in this because I think she stole her so stole the show so hard that I look at Marlon Ways and Connelly and Letto and I'm kind of like rightly or wrongly I'm like yeah they did what they needed to do.

(07:01):
They were there also.
Yeah, sort of.
Yeah,
sort of. I feel like this is the Ellen Buren show. Yeah.
Ed,
but I don't know.
Did I want to punch Jaraltto's character in this? Well, yeah, I did actually. So, no,
there's no getting away from that face, though. It's got a very punchable face.
Yeah, that's why I like Fight Club so much. Angel Face gets it.
Um,
spoilers for that 25-year-old movie.
Oh, it's not a spoiler, is it? Is it a spoiler that bit like someone gets punched in the face in Fight? club.
No, it's not.
We need to watch Fire Club. I haven't seen it in about 5 years.
Okay.
But uh I I think I liked the liked is maybe the the wrong word, but I appreciated the relationship between Connelly and Letto's character that it did feel kind of kind of real
and and like a journey from obviously they sort of very recently met I gather from when we first see them. Was there is there a big history there? It felt to me that they only just got together.
Yeah, I within a month or two.
I think I agree with that. It doesn't feel like they had a huge amount of history.
Yeah. And but and then I guess this film is told over the course of what about a year.
Close to a year. I think it's Yeah. three seasons that we see sort of pop up on screen. So almost a year.

(07:22):
And I do feel like the the dynamic between Col and Leto was like I felt the journey throughout that time and what they were going through from the start when everything's quite exciting and we're pulling alarms off the fire exits and throwing out a paper airplane and doing some a bigger drugs on a on a big building. Um and then you know flash forward a month and it's like I can't or a year I can't sleep. I've got to do more big drug again
and uh
go and do some light sex work
to fund the habit.
Light sex work is
Oh, you're the only one who can be sarcastic, right? I see. Yeah, that's another thing I wasn't expecting in this movie is a double-ended dildo.
Darren Aronowski full of surprises.
Is he No. Is that his thing? Is he notorious putting double-ended dildos in his movies?
Not to the best of my knowledge. However,
have you seen Mother?
No.
Oh my god. And now that wasn't
I think it's a good film, but it was an infuriating watch.
I've heard that from other sources, too.
Yeah. I would like to see it again, but at the same time, I sort of wanted to scream the whole time it was on. It was bizarre. But um but yeah, he he said in an interview that the ass to ass scene, as it's become known, that line was improvised, by the way.
Oh, right. By one of the extras.
Yeah. Okay.
Check that guy's hard drive.
Yeah.
But apparently Areronowski said that that scene was based on something he experienced firsthand.
Tell me more, Darren.

(07:43):
Were you one of the two asses or were you just watching? What happened? Must be more backdoor story to this.
I need more information.
Yeah, you can't just leave us hanging like that.
Oh, that's all I could find.
Dou, if you're listening, we want to know what happened, man. What happened to you?
He's not listening.
He's not listening, is he?
No.
Maybe one of his peoples is listening.
I mean, they've probably
switched off by now.
They're probably listening to podcasts with millions of audience members rather than our 20 27
or whatever it's up to now.
I am proud of that 27. Works hard for that 27. It's not about It's not about how much, is it? It's about how much you I guess it is about how much really
when it comes to getting paid. Yeah. But quality over quantity.
I agree.
Yeah.
And that's another thing I liked about this movie is it didn't outstate its welcome.
It's so breezy.
Well, breezy is I don't know if I would use that term.
Okay. All right. I'll backtrack a little bit. Breezy is Yeah. guess perhaps the wrong word to use, but it flew by.

(08:04):
It does fly by and I think um I think that's the right call for this.
Yeah, I have watched some other stuff during this month to get a more well-rounded view on drugs films in general for the rap show. So, I did watch um well, we watched Enter the Void together. We finally got around to that. That's close to two and a half hours.
Yeah.
I watched Cristiana F, which I think was about two hours. I don't know. watched a TV show of Cristiana F as well,
which was about 8 hours.
So, I think I think you're right. I think this was the right call. I think it's fine to be mired in other people's misery for a short time, but if you're in it too long, it's just dreary. Yeah.
And maybe you carry that away into your regular life, and that's not necessarily a good thing. But this, I don't know. I think some of the um some of the really frenetic editing And like the what's that thing called where the camera is sort of mounted on the actor.
I know what you mean.
I read somewhere that it was called a snor snory cam. Snory cam.
Okay. I I haven't heard that.
Um but that sort of stuff as well. The the the immediacy of those sorts of shots
all kind of contribute to the the pace of the movie just flying by.
Yeah.
I think I think the courts particularly really speed this thing along, pun intended.
Yeah. I'm I'm just glad that it wasn't too long, you know? Like Climax feels like a longer movie to me than this. I
Climax is about the same, isn't it?
Yeah. I think they're both about 90 minutes or so, hour 40 something, but Climax to me feels like it goes on forever, whereas this was I wouldn't use the tambreezy, but it did kind of go by quite quickly.
But that's a really good example. That's a really good way of illustrating what I was just saying. And and the cuts kind of helping speed this thing along because Climax had so many really really long takes obviously one of which was about 43 minutes and so there's there's no escape there's no reprieve you're just in it with them in real time.
Yeah.
And that's what makes that film so horrifying I think whereas this we're covering a much longer time period and it's so chopped up that it it really does fly by.
Yeah.

(08:25):
What did you think of some of the other effects that are used? Cuz there is quite a lot here. talked about the quick edits, the quick cuts. We've talked about some of the um what what you call it? Not slow mo,
fast mo.
No. Oh god, you said it earlier.
Big Mo.
No.
Little Mo. Billy Mitchell.
No. Stop naming people from EastEnders.
Minty.
Stop. No. Time lapse. Some of the time-lapse stuff. There's also a lot of split screen, which we've talked a bit about because obviously we've covered a couple of Brian deer Palmer movies and that seems to be like a favorite technique of his. Um, how do you feel about that? Cuz I think one of this film's overarching themes is obviously loneliness.
I hadn't thought of that, but yeah. Yeah, I guess so.
I mean,
well, I mean, who's lonely though? Only Ellen Buren, right?
Well, she's horribly lonely. Like heartbreakingly lonely. She even says as much.
Yep. I mean, she's probably enough lonely for all four characters,
but I think the others are as well. Like I I mean, you you talked about the the relationship between Marian and Harry and how they it didn't seem like there was much history and things were were quite rosy at the start and then they get more and more separate as the film goes on and their drug addictions kind of spiral out of control and they're in far fewer scenes together in the back half of the film.
Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Actually,
uh Marlon Wayan's character obviously the only other real interaction he has with anybody that isn't in the principal cast is that woman that he sleeps with,
but we never see her again. So, no idea if that's like a regular partner or just like a one night stand. But he's he seems terribly lonely cuz he's mourning the death of his mom. We keep seeing those flashbacks.
Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that character.
And so, I don't know. I And also, I think like the the dichotomy between him pining for his mom who's gone and Harry kind of being a bit of a shitbag. to his mom who is still very much alive and desperately needs him is quite interesting.
Like their priorities, but I think the um I think the split screen is used quite nicely to sort of convey that sense of of loneliness and of isolation because you can have two characters side by side on screen, but they're not they're separated.

(08:46):
Yeah, I do. I noticed that in the first scene actually where did you say his name's Harry?
Mhm.
When he is is trying to nick his mom's TV and Buren locks herself in a bathroom and you get this split screen. I didn't I wasn't sure if it was split screen at first. I just thought it was the division of the door.
Yeah.
And I guess that was intentional, but it was it was nicely done. And then I realized it was it was split screen. And you're right. It does convey to you how
even in in that scene when the the characters are physically close to each other, they are separate. They're still apart.
They're different people. people living different lives and different outlooks and at different stages of their life as well. Burton's kind of winding down and looking back and Harry has all of his potential which I'm sure that he's going to realize.
Yeah, of course. Yeah.
Yeah, you're right. I I didn't think of that as at all actually and and I didn't think about the loneliness at all, but yeah, now you mention it. Yeah, you're right.
I think I think loneliness is a big one for a lot of people who turn to drugs
because they're obviously missing something in their life, right?
I think that's what addiction is, isn't it? You're trying to fill a hole,
right? I'm not an expert, you know.
Or or forget about trauma or
Yeah. Yeah. I And you know, I don't have any experience with with addiction really, and I don't know anyone that's ever really been seriously addicted to anything. So, I don't really have much experience with it. But, yeah, I gather it's there's some kind of void. Something you're unhappy and you're trying to make yourself happy. It's as simple as that or you're missing something and that could be companionship. It could be a human. Let's do some heroin. Not going to feel alone for a little bit
maybe. Yeah, that's I'm sure um many people's motives. I'm sure it's different for everybody, but
I think it's all about dopamine, isn't it?
Well, yeah,
we're all just chasing that dopamine and serotonin. I'm quite happy that I picked this one for the lineup because we've we've covered heroin before.
We've done heroin.
Stop saying Uh, no we haven't

(09:07):
for train spotting.
Yes.
But we haven't seen drug use or addiction displayed in quite the same way as Sarah Goldb in this movie.
No. And that's that that's an interesting talk about parallels. The the addiction multigenerational addiction I guess that we're portraying in this in this film is as again something I wasn't expecting. But you don't but you you rarely see the prescription addiction. The The legitimate man in a white coat has given you some pills and a piece of paper that says you should take this and it's absolutely fine.
Yeah. His direction is merely do not look at Ellen Buren.
Yeah.
In every scene.
Yeah. But doesn't ever really get talked about in the same you'll get a documentary or you'll get a a TV show about that sort of thing, but you very I don't think I've ever seen the two in the same piece of whether it's a film or a TV show. I don't think I've seen that before. That's that's one of the things I really like about this film though is the breadth of addiction that it covers. It's not just like it's not just one thing. Obviously, we talked about Train Spotting. I mentioned Cristiana F. Heroin movies tend to only go one way
because I I imagine it's pretty much a similar trajectory when you're on that hard of a drug, but you don't really see this side of it. And it was it was kind of huge decades ago that women just prescribed amphetamines to lose weight. That's insane. And that was just okay. That was the done thing.
Yeah.
It's like, "Oh, yeah. Go see my doctor. The weight will drop off."
RIP Sarah Gold. You would have loved her.
Yeah.
Get her on the GLP ones.
Yeah.
I don't know. Coming back to her performance though. I don't know. I can't put my finger on what it is. Like, she's got such an expressive face and I think she really really sells the desperation. Yeah. I mean, she does she she does it all in this film, doesn't she? She And you said earlier that is I need to justify something that you said about me earlier. You said that I was laughing quite a lot and you think I'm a psychopath.
I said sociopath. But
potato.
Yeah. You say potato, I say potato. I But I feel like her performance was tragic, don't get me wrong,
but also comedically, I think very well done. I think there was a lot in there that was funny. And I'm not laughing I'm not laughing at the the decline of that character. It just felt like some of it was very absurd.
And I can see what you're saying. That's part of it. Part of her losing her mind, like the close-ups of the face and she's sort of like wigging out and looking around and then it's a cut to shooting McGavin eating a piece of s*** for breakfast. And I just thought that was very funny. I don't know. There was quite a lot of this movie I found quite amusing. And I think that's I think it's intentional.

(09:28):
I can sort of see what you're saying, but I disagree that it's her performance. I think maybe some of like the hallucinatory moments that she finds herself in could be seen as funny, like when the fridge comes to life.
Yeah,
that's
Yeah. And her reaction objectively quite funny.
And her like being completely startled and looking at the fridge. I think that's like a comedic response to that sometimes.
I don't know, man. I'm not laughing at her. I'm laughing at the fridge. if that makes sense.
Yeah. I mean, the fridge is great as well. Don't get me wrong. Fridge put in a good performance. Also, Oscar nominated. I think that fridge,
best fridge. Yeah, it won.
Best fridge in Aaron Oski movie.
It won. It never recovered though cuz it did in fact um and this is true from the trivia. It did melt from the inside because of the lights that were in it.
They put lights in in the fridge.
Yeah.
Why?
I don't know. For the effect it gave.
Oh, I must have missed the part where there were lights beaming out the fridge.
You did clearly. You were too Is he laughing at Ellen Burton?
Yeah,
it's hilarious movie.
Yeah.
Yeah. No, I did um I did find some of it funny. I'm sorry that may I I feel like it was intentional. I feel like Aronowski's okay. I haven't seen What have I seen of Aronoskis? Actually, let's have a look.
You've seen Pie, right?

(09:49):
I've seen Pie.
Yeah.
Um I love it when Jim f**** the apple the apple pie. It's so funny. It's my favorite pie movie. Yeah, I've seen I've seen pi. Um, also known as 3.14. Uh, I've seen
I wish I knew the rest of that number. Someone listening go 3.14. What? I I've seen um the whale with with watch the whale.
I didn't love that one.
No, I didn't. Evo. It was a bit weird. I have seen
Oh, did he direct the uh No. What else has he done? Should I look on letter box here? Sure. I don't even have my phone on me, so it's all on you.
Requeen for a dream. Oh, Black Swan. Haven't seen that.
Oh, of course. That blows my mind that you've never seen it. Was it just lack of interest or was it everybody? Was it the world telling you to watch Black Swan?
No, I I said I mentioned up top that Aronowski is not really my guy, someone that I would typically
So, you just hear his name and kind of go,
but in that case, because everyone had said it was brilliant, I was one of those that I I would like to get around to it and I've nearly watched it a few times, but I haven't been in the mood for it. So, I would be up for watching that one. Wow. 2010. I've been putting that off for a long time. For 15 years.
It's a good movie.
Yeah. No, I'll watch that one. Haven't seen Mother. Haven't seen The Wrestler.
The Wrestler is great. As much as I dislike Mickey Rock, the Wrestler is great.
Okay. Yeah, I've heard that's pretty good, too. Again. Yeah. I I think maybe I've gone to put that on a couple of times as well. Not and not on it. I think I just maybe try to avoid what I would consider might be bleak cinema.
I don't to a degree.
I don't know if that one's bleak.
Um
it's not Ricky Staniki, but
nothing is. I've seen The Fountain and I loved it.

(10:10):
Okay.
Um that was very much flavor Dan that movie.
But no, I mean he hasn't done as much. You said this the other day when you looked him up on letter box. He hasn't done as much as you think he has.
No, I think I think when I was much much much younger and he first sort of started bringing movies out. I would get him and Steven Soderberg mixed up.
Yeah.
And I don't know why.
So similar.
But I don't I don't know why
Steve Z is in all of Aeronoski's movies also wearing sunglasses and a orange jumpsuit.
I've had quite enough of you today.
Yeah, he's not he's not been quite as prolific as I thought he'd been. Yeah,
which is a similar experience I had looking up Gaspino's CV for uh the Climax show. Oh, there's also another crossover here. So, the the famous piece of music from Reququum for a Dream. It's called
Yeah,
that one.
That was a beautiful rendition. Thank you.
Thanks so much.
So, maybe we'll I'll I'll edit that into our new theme. get a new thing.
I think Yeah, that that's it. That's it. Trailer music.
You made me forget what I was going to say. Oh my god. No, it's so it this um a portion of that music is called Lux Turner and Gaspino08 directed a movie called Lux Turner, right?
So it means eternal light.
Okay.

(10:31):
It's Latin apparently. In terms of the wider cast, Mark Margaliss.
Mark Margal. You're going to have to tell me who Mark Margaliss is. is Hector Salamanca.
Maybe it's Margariss. Uh oh. Um from Breaking Bad. Yes,
the wheelchair bellman who gets exploded.
Ding ding
ding. Yeah, spoilers for Breaking Bad. Also, I was going to say is the man what gets his head put on a tortoise, but that's something someone else, I think.
I thought that was Danny Treyo.
Sure.
Yeah,
it's one of your favorite shows. How How do you not know these things? And you've only watched it all the way through once.
I don't Well, you've just answered your own question, haven't you? Blows my mind.
I don't know these things because of I only watched it once. It's a lot of episodes, Sarah. It's my favorite show of all time. Yes, I've seen it once. Okay.
It's so weird the commitment issues that you have with TV shows is wild.
I ain't got time, man. I'm a busy man. All right.
But I I I mention him because he's a frequent collaborator. I I went through
Is he the cast lists of um
Mhm. of a bunch of his films and he crops up in loads of them if like most.
Okay.
So, I thought that was interesting.
I wasn't expecting to see Hector in this. No. And he's he's sort of there and then he's not.
In it and then he's not. Who is he? I remember seeing his face, but I can't remember what the context was.

(10:52):
He is the one who Jared Leto sells the TV to and Ellen Buren always buys it back and they're in this constant tugofwar,
right?
Did you know that Aronovski instructed well asked Jared Leto and Marlon Ways to abstain from all sugar and all sex for 30 days so that they could get into the mindset of what it was like to have cravings and think about something constantly and know you couldn't have it.
No, I did not know that.
Personally, I think he should have told Jared Leto to abstain from sex forever and also acting.
I think he should have told Jared Leto to abstain from breathing and being alive. That would have been nice.
And certainly assembling cults.
Yeah,
don't do that.
Yeah, that's bad. You heard it here first.
I don't believe that they did abstain from either of those things for 30 minutes, let alone 30 days.
Um, I couldn't find any information as to whether or not they stuck to it, but they were asked to.
Yeah. In other words, they didn't. Cuz if they did stick to it, that it would have been all over the market and they'd be like, "Yeah, we we we didn't do these things for a month."
I don't know, man. I think Jared Letto is he he is method, right? He he
or he says he goes full method, so I think he would have like committed.
I think that he tells people that he goes full method and demonstrates it to the world that he goes full method, but I think he's a charlatan.
Well, he's been full method as a douchebag for decades now.
There's no way that he didn't have sugar for a month.
How do you even do that? Like that that means no bread.
Well, no. No American bread, that's for sure. You can't go to Subway.
There's sugars in everything. What do you It's a glass of water.

(11:13):
Well, refined sugar, isn't it?
I don't know. What What was the clarification, Areronk? Did he say that?
Well, when people say no sugar, I mean, that was one of um Tappy Tibbons tenets.
Yeah,
that's catchy.
Tibbons tenets. Yeah.
Um it was no sugar, no red meat. And then we never get to hear the third one because Ellen Buren's character al always kind of like dozes off or starts to hallucinate. So, we never hear what the third tenant is.
A sex. No sex
probably. Yeah. Now, I've never read the original book that this was based on, but Darren Aronowski went to Hubert Selby Jr. and said, "How do you feel about these characters being younger than they are in the book?" So, initially, he wanted them all to be like, well, the trio of the younger characters anyway, he wanted them to be teenagers, like between 14 and 16, but the uh the money people had massive problems with that, as you can imagine, probably
and just were not about it. So, they I'm guessing they're all about what 30, late 20s.
I I gathered that they were in a early to mid20s.
Oh, do you think?
Yeah. I mean, how old was were they actually?
I'm not sure actually.
Letto when was this 2000? He must have been about 25.
Yeah, at least.
And Connelly is Conny's hard because she's been in movies forever.
Yeah. And she Yeah. She was probably about 30, right?
Yeah, probably.
If she was like 14 in Labyrinth.
Yeah. And Marlon Wes has just always looked 28.

(11:34):
Yeah. from birth.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's difficult to It's difficult to shoot with young young people anyway
to shoot with or to shoot up with.
Both. But obviously when you're employing children then, you know, it's a whole whole another set of problems you're introducing with chaperones and well costs really.
Yeah. Obviously. Um but I think it was a lot less about that and more that if they were that age they it wouldn't have had a theatrical release back then,
right?
And also, it would have been shredding old ground because that's literally what Cristiana F is. I think she's 14, turns 15 in the film
and turns to drugs and then sex work to fund the addiction. So, it would have felt a bit too been there, done that, I suppose, which is a weird thing to say about that subject.
Been there, done that, got the double-ended dildo.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
And a little badge that says ass to ass.
We need That's our next merch cover. Please, no.
T-shirt that says American sock and a badge that says ask to ask
the sill f****** get on board with. I'm not doing ass badges.
I'm not I'm going to cut out a bit when that you said badges. I'm not doing ass.
Nobody clip this.
It's already going to be fed into an AI.
Yeah. By me.
Don't do it.
Let's uh have Can we Can we get to the end? Can we talk about the ending? Okay. So, I was I said earlier my experience with this movie when I sat down to watch it was was was dreading it. I'll be honest with you. And then for an hour went by and I was like, I'm really I quite like this movie. This is not the depressing funeral watch movie that I was kind of promised and and this is great. I love the way that it's done and it's very stylish and I love the music and it's all great. And then the last 10 minutes happens.

(11:55):
I feel like it was just before that that I literally said to you, "Yeah, this is not too bad." And and I was, like you said, I was laughing
Yeah.
through through some of it
and and then the last 10 minutes happen and it's all a bit like it happens very quickly cuz I feel like the movie is a a slow decline into addiction
and it's the it's the gradual
but I guess large steps like the the drops that that
that can happen to you. But it gets to the end and they they just completely fall off a cliff and you got Letto with his his arm that's becoming infected.
Oh, that him injecting into a clearly infected wound was probably the most horrifying thing in this.
Yeah. And it was a but it was also a very good kind of visual representation of that. Like no matter the damage that it's doing to you that you know that it's doing to you, you still take it. because you need it
or you feel like you need it.
Find a different vein, my guy.
Yeah. I mean, people put it in their their toes, don't they? And
I've seen people do that in films. Yeah,
apparently. Yeah.
But no, apparently he found one spot and stuck to it.
Yeah. Uh but yeah, it was up until that point I was like, "Yeah, this is not too bad. This is pretty plain sailing. I'm enjoying this." And then the last the last kind of um act happens and it Yeah. It's it's so it's so much, man, cuz you get the Ellen Buren being taken to the hospital and having electro electric shock therapy.
ACT I think it's electro convulsive therapy,
right?
But that's I'm making an educated guess.
Yeah, she's going through that ordeal and simultaneously having a kind of identity stripped from her her clothes, her possessions, her dignity, her hair.
Yeah, her red dress is gone. And um

(12:16):
that's all that's very very sad and and and and and it's also at the same time showing you the where the Marlon Ways and the the Letto character end up where I I think I gather they're meant to be in in prison.
Yeah.
From because they went to the hospital and someone said that we think that they're drug addicts so they went to prison. I gather that's what happened. It feels they're not giving you all of the information here. It's meant to you're meant to fill in the gaps I think to a degree.
Um but then I suppose that adds to the confusion because uh it adds to your experience of it because I guess when you're trying to um come off of a drug like that perhaps your memory is your recall is kind of f***** and mess get becomes messed with. I don't know. And you don't do you really know where you are? I don't whether or not that's a true representation. I don't know. But it worked for me to think ah this must be what these characters are experiencing. One minute you're here and then next minute you're feeling like s*** and you're here you don't really know what's going on and you feel terrible.
Oh I'm sure like Gaps in gaps in time and memory are probably a thing. Yeah.
Yeah. And then and then we we get a very introduced late surprise. Keith Gordon.
Keith David.
Keith Keith Gordon. Who's Keith?
Keith Gordon's in Christine, isn't he?
I don't know who's Keith Gordon.
He's in Christine.
Is he?
Yeah. Okay.
He's the main character.
Keith David. Yeah. We get a surprise Keith David. And I wasn't expecting that. And he's this this whole intro to this this uh this this underground God knows
sex thing.
I don't it is I don't know
but um who
some bargain basement eyes wide shut nonsense.
Who which character if you had to choose
Oh no. Oh no. I know where this question's going and I don't I don't care to answer it.

(12:37):
If she had to end up in one of these characters shoes, which ones would it be?
Marlon Wayans. Cuz at least I would get fed.
He's still got his arms. He's got both arms.
Um he's not lost his marbles. Presumably he's going to get clean in prison.
Yeah.
Um yeah, I think of all four probably that one.
Okay, fair enough.
What about you?
You going to say Jennifer Connelly? Yeah, I knew it.
I think Connelly. Yeah.
I think just I don't hate the idea of jail.
I do.
I've been
I couldn't think of anything worse.
The economy what it is. I've been struggling so much financially lately that part of me is just like maybe I'll just do a small crime and get like a six month break. Just go away for a few months and get some decent sleep and read a bunch and work out.
Doesn't sound so bad.
I'm sure it's lovely. I'm sure there's no issues with with being in a prison and it's not very nice.
I'm heavily tattooed enough that I can look intimidating if I want to and have people leave. me alone. Just don't read my knuckle tattoos that say kindness.
Yeah,
cuz I might under undermine my message somewhat.
You could just have to change one of your hands so it says bad badness.

(12:58):
Yeah, I could survive jail.
Yeah, you'd be all right. I I would be terrible. But um but yeah, the the ending was pretty bleak. And I I think that's that's the thing with this movie is that it's not all relentless misery. There there is some for me anyway some fun to be had and stylistically it's great and it's it's it's it's a good movie it's an interesting movie to watch but the last 10 minutes is what stays with you I think and I've been thinking about this because it is notorious it's one of the most I looked at the reviews on letter box yeah bleakest thing I've ever seen I've been thinking about this forever like five stars and yeah very depressing and I think yes for the last 10 15 minutes, yes, but not before that really. But it is that the way that it ends is what stays with you because it it has that those three slash4 character journeys where they end up and then it just ends.
Yeah. There's no reprieve.
There's no like, oh, we get out of jail and we're clean now. It's just like, f*** off. You leave the cinema now. This this is where the characters are. Like there's no I'm sure it would have been for for a bigger budget movie. or a more audiencefriendly production or whatever, it would there would have been a temptation to to clip on an ending where they get clean or find some kind of resolution or happiness in some way.
And maybe there was a scene where Alan Buren just just gets out and she's she's okay now or, you know, or she gets on the show with shooting McGavin, but there's none of that. All of the characters are left at their lowest point.
Mhm.
So, I think that's the thing. I think it where it ends is the gut. punch in this. Not necessarily what happens. It's like it just it does the score build up as well.
I think it's both. I think it's a onew punch.
Yeah.
And but the score as well is a very like uh it's the violin, isn't it? It's a it's it just makes you feel bit sad, doesn't it?
Yeah. And all the minor chords and like it's it's very sort of
it's it's designed to make you feel a certain way. For sure.
It totally is. Yeah. And it works. It really works. And it ramps up much like the the events of the film as well, which kind of echoes what Aronowski was saying about the film being like a piece of music or him approaching it as if it were a piece of music. Like it builds to this horrific crescendo and then it ends.
Yeah. And it leaves you wanting more. You're like, "Ah, requ dreams to the two the the sequel.
Requaloo." Uh yeah, I don't think that's ever going to happen. And I'm so glad it was a a lower budget movie. Can you imagine if a studio got their hands on this script and tried to make it for like some four quadrant watered down b*******?
Well, it would be a different movie. Like we said, it wouldn't have ended where it ended. There definitely would have been some kind of happy ending
a year later.
Yeah. Oh, she's got her shop now. She sells double-ended dildos.
She doesn't ever want to see a double-ended dildo again, I don't think. Letto's mastered juggling with one arm.
Yeah. Yeah.
And joined the circus.

(13:19):
Yeah. Marlon Wens was in White Chicks.
Yeah. There you go.
So, not all happy endings.
All worked out the way it was supposed to.
Yeah.
So, this was a film you'd put off watching for a really long time. Do you stand by that or are you glad you've seen it now?
Uh, I'm glad that I've seen it now and it's out of the way of this season.
Oh, so you don't think you'll ever return to this film?
Probably not.
Really? No, I didn't. I mean, like I said, didn't find it as depressing as I thought I would.
The ending is a bit of a gut punch.
I can't see myself being in the mood to put this on. I'll be honest with you.
Maybe you've just you've had a week and you've just just been like, I've been altogether too happy this week. What can I do about this?
I need to balance the scales.
No, I feel like it's it's a like a box ticket. Yep. Seen that now. You can reference it. May I don't know. Maybe in 20 years when I've forgotten not I've even seen it. Yes.
Okay.
But it's definitely not something if you're going to say to me, Dan, let's put a film on tonight. What do you want to watch? It's never going to be request. It's probably not going to be Train Spotting.
No,
but it would be Go.
Not Pineapple Express.
No, probably not Pineapple Express either.

(13:40):
But maybe the movie next week though.
Maybe.
What are we doing next week, Dan? Let's start. It's our final show of the season.
The final show of your your season.
Mhm.
And uh we're doing our first Gilam movie. The first Big G. Big G we're doing.
Yeah.
Montipython man. The big man with the big python does big weird movie.
Are you just delaying saying the title of the movie?
It feels like you're filering your own podcast.
I've got to cut it all out. I don't know why I'm making my life harder.
It's your I feel like you should announce it. It's your season. It's the last one.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Yeah,
which was sort of my choice, but for you. This is my gift to you.
It's your choice. It's your season. I didn't strongarm you into this.
No, but you bought the DV the the Blu-ray, and I was like,
"Oh, I bought it after you programmed it in, I think."
No, you didn't.
I bought it before you programmed it in cuz I wanted to watch it. You didn't have to program. There you go. I'm giving you the perfect excuse.