The bizarre Bruce Lee connection to ‘Requiem For a Dream’
Darren Aronofsky doesn’t really pull any punches throughout his filmography. From his beginnings to The Whale, Aronofsky never sugarcoats what he’s thinking, whether that’s about the abuse one puts on their body or the toxic elements that come with leading a troubled life. The score of an Aronofsky film always has to follow suit, but Requiem for a Dream packed a bit of a punch in a different way.
Then again, the film is not exactly for the faint of heart, telling the story of junkies going through withdrawal and studying what draws a drug abuser’s mind to some of their disgusting escapades. When putting together the sound effects for the film, the score was the perfect representation of what was going on in the mind of a junkie, as the music swirls around and makes one’s nerves stand on end as they listen.
Once the orchestral part of the score was put together, composer Clint Mansell dared to aim for something bigger than just traditional sound design. After coming off working on Pi, Mansell had a vision of using sound to mess with the listener’s head in the same way the film was a bit daunting to watch.
When speaking to IndieWire, Aronofsky mentioned using samples of Bruce Lee for the final edit of the score, explaining, “It’s a great score, actually, some of Clint’s beats, for instance, are samples from Bruce Lee punches, stolen from movies and basically, turned into beats. For the third act, for that driving music which climaxes the film, we sampled from the greatest Requiems of all time, Mozart, Verdi, and put them into a drum machine and programmed them and gave that to the Kronos Quartet and they played over it”.
Since Lee was known as one of the most expressive fighters, hearing his trademark punches and kicks gave the audience that extra punch in the gut from an audio standpoint. Outside of the disturbing visuals onscreen, the score doesn’t let the listener off the hook, getting increasingly unhinged as the film plays out.
Then again, using classical music to offset the intensity of the looped Bruce Lee punches provided an exquisite backdrop for what the movie was supposed to be. Since most of the characters are hooked on some sort of vice, hearing the soothing sounds of Mozart play out in front of them encapsulates the pure bliss that comes from finally having a high that sustains them.
Although the film’s design was meant to keep the listener on edge the entire time, the movie’s greatest strength comes from how intimate it can be. When working on different elements of the film, Aronofsky would praise some of the film’s quieter moments for being some of the emotional centrepieces.
Even though Requiem for a Dream may have been reviewed favourably over time, most fans weren’t exactly ecstatic with the final product, with some turned off by the visual style and unable to stomach the entire thing. Despite the divisive nature of the film, Aronofsky always stood by the balance of the visual side of the film and the elastic storyline. Although Requiem might not be the easiest film to watch from beginning to end, Clint Mansell’s work behind the scenes tells the story without looking at a single shot.
