Requiem For a Dream

One director that uses sound as a key tool to telling his story is director Darren Aronofsky. He is known for using a dark tone to fill the nature of his stories. He has directed award winning films such as The Wrestler, and Black Swan, but my favorite of his is Requiem For a Dream. It redefined what a "drug movie" could be, illustrating a brutal addiction especially through the works of his chilling soundtrack and other sounds. I remember the first time I watched this horrifying film was in the 8th grade. My uncle told me it was a great film and had an incredible soundtrack so I was interested. And although I was terrified for 101 minutes, I couldn't stop thinking about how incredible the film was. Sound design is perhaps the most overlooked art in cinema, and for good reason: truly perfect sound serves only to enhance immersion in the film. Its not supposed to draw attention. But once you start paying attention, Requim's scenes are filled with subtle, striking enhancements. From the hallucinated growl of a characters fridge to the grating teeth-grinding of an addict on uppers. For a low budget film, Darren Aronofsky turned this film into something unforgettable.