Movies Like Requiem For A Dream For Fans Of Psychological Dramas

Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1977 novel "A Scanner Darkly" echoes the paranoid, deteriorating mood of "Requiem for a Dream." It also centers around many of the same themes: Though "A Scanner Darkly" is a science-fiction film set in the future, drug addiction, social structures, and unstable relationships still take center stage.

The film is animated through a technique called rotoscoping, which involves drawing over live-action footage. Because of this, even though the film is animated, you can easily make out the faces of its illustrious cast: Woody Harrelson, Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr., and Winona Ryder, to name a few.

All of their characters are friends. Well, sort of — they're all addicted to Substance D, like much of the population, and are pretty paranoid of each other, engaging in regular acts of betrayal to serve their own interests (be they addiction, undercover drug-busting work, or, in the case of Reeves' character, both). But the results of each of their actions are more far-reaching than any of them know.