Have been delaying watching Requiem For A Dream for years now, until I could no longer stop myself, and when I finally did—holy crap, it is as great and ugly as everyone says it is. Ugly, as in it has a lot of ugly images that you can’t tear your eyes away from, images that will linger and linger. After seeing it I went to meet Smoketh in TCBATL and told her she should watch it watch it watch it.

“I’ve heard of it. What’s it about? Who stars in it?” she asked.
“Ellen Burstyn,” I said.
“Who’s Ellen Burstyn?” Smoketh asked, puffing away.
I couldn’t recall any other movie of Ellen Burstyn so I just said, “Think Charito Solis at her scariest.”

Which reminds me, while most kids had their fear of clowns phase, I had a fear of Charito Solis phase. I used to be afraid of opening our refrigerator at night, thinking I would see her severed head in it. Did I just imagine it or was there really a movie featuring her decapitated head in the ref? Some Shake, Rattle, and Roll episode or something? I also remember our grade 5 science teacher telling us about some movie she saw featuring an alcoholic Charito Solis who was so desperate for alcohol she guzzled a bottle of rubbing alcohol. And then there was the “Len-Len! Len-Len!” movie featuring some Down’s Syndrome kid named Len-Len who was a witness to a murder or something and Charito wanted to cover it up and she would have been successful had it not been for the timely intervention of… Sharon Cuneta. Care to elucidate on all these vague pop culture references, Marth V.?

The best time to watch Requiem For A Dream is when you’re at your loneliest and scariest of growing old alone alONE ALONE and you feel like dying your hair red and losing lots of weight and joining Wowowee wearing a red dress for some recognition. I know, lots of criteria to be at your optimal state of mind to appreciate the film, but I enjoyed it just the same even when my state of mind was just pure, unabated sluggishness and disinterest in reading about poisons. Mmmmmmm…. poisons.

To put all this movie recommendation into perspective: back in 1999 I recommended that as a reward after her Physics 71 final exam Mrs. Therese should watch another one of my favorite movies, Quills, featuring Joaquin Phoenix in a sutana and Kate Winslet as the chambermaid from porn land. So Mrs. Therese ran to SM City with another one of our friends, Hyukhyukhyuk, and they watched Quills, ready to refresh themselves from the annoyance that was Physics 71. Mrs. Therese and Hyukhyukhyukhyuk never forgave me.

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