That was one of the most poignant things you’ve ever written. My daughter was addicted to pills and alcohol. One day she called her father because he had the money to get her into rehab. She’s 6 years clean. Goes to N.A. meetings and volunteers at rehabs and assists people straight to meetings. I think she will do this forever because she is grateful to be alive. She’s lost so many friends.
"Requiem For A Dream is a good boy’s fantasy of the price bad boys pay."
I like this line. One small step above Helen Hunt jumping out the window after trying PCP in some God-awful afterschool special from the early 80s (the name escapes me).
Last Exit to Brooklyn. Man, I haven’t heard anyone mention that film in decades. Some movie scenes get stuck in your head forever and can never be unseen.
Agree with you 💯. Only saw the movie once when it came out and that was enough. It made me physically ill at the end. But I can see how it would feel super dated now. Love DA but he has much better films.
I far as heroin movies—what are your thoughts on Basketball Diaries, Jesus’ Son and Candy?
It's all a matter of opinion I guess. Having been close to many lost due to heroin, I found the movie a bit over the top, but it stayed with me to this day. It's the first time I saw Jared Leto and have been a fan ever since.
Every now and then I’ll watch an AA-focused movie (When a Man Loves a Woman was actually pretty good! 28 Days was a star vehicle for Sandra Bullock!). Love your deep dive into how the 90s style undermined this one, melded with your personal history.
"R RATED after-school special." Spot on. Most movies like this play out that way. I found it 80 min of "you know where it's going" followed by 20 min of "I don't want to watch that ever again."
Drugstore Cowboy ftw, Jesus' Son is pretty good too, and perhaps the truest to the unglamorous realities. But there's a reason people who like heroin enough to know it well aren't making movies. Ferrera was the exception but he couldn't keep doing both.
In The Man With The Golden Arm junk is just a plot device, and I don't sense Algern had any personal experience.
As for the bottle, The Lost Weekend is by far the best book on that I've read, because it concentrates on the state of addiction and is full of truth, but I haven't seen the film yet.
This is exactly why I hate Sean Bakers films. Superficial exploitive films, made by an upper middle class rich kid. Anora is a perfect example. Cardboard cartoon caricatures with no emotional depth. Stereotypical worn out tropes.
Hi John, nice review. I admit to a fondness for this film, but your review explains why I, someone who isn't an addict and hasn't been tempted to be one, might find it compelling.
As a career television editor, however, I'll defend the "hip hop edit", those sequences of five quick cuts that occur several times during scenes of drug use. They're as great and compact a depiction of the process of preparation, ingestion, and effects of drugs as any devised-i love it. And the movie did have the effect of making me think about my own ingestion of recreational substances, so it's got that going for it. Ellyn Bursten was good. So yeah, it's a well-crafted piece of it's time, and lacks the understanding of addiction we as a culture have developed in the ensuing quarter decade.
It was a film popularized when I was in junior high which I was CLEARLY too young for but thought was the pinnacle of edgy at the time. It still haunts me
That was one of the most poignant things you’ve ever written. My daughter was addicted to pills and alcohol. One day she called her father because he had the money to get her into rehab. She’s 6 years clean. Goes to N.A. meetings and volunteers at rehabs and assists people straight to meetings. I think she will do this forever because she is grateful to be alive. She’s lost so many friends.
"Requiem For A Dream is a good boy’s fantasy of the price bad boys pay."
I like this line. One small step above Helen Hunt jumping out the window after trying PCP in some God-awful afterschool special from the early 80s (the name escapes me).
The novel is very good. Also set in the Bronx! It's much better than the film. Last Exit to Brooklyn is a great novel
Last Exit to Brooklyn. Man, I haven’t heard anyone mention that film in decades. Some movie scenes get stuck in your head forever and can never be unseen.
Cross eyed with stupidity. Genius.
I was going to say, and don’t forget Drugstore Cowboy and the next sentence…And then, but Ellen Burstyn’s Sara Goldfarb…
Great piece of writing.
I loved this. What an incredible ability to transport your readers. And I agree. I watched RFAD when it first came out on DVD and shrugged.
That was so good, John! Full power to you, mate. Love your writing!
Agree with you 💯. Only saw the movie once when it came out and that was enough. It made me physically ill at the end. But I can see how it would feel super dated now. Love DA but he has much better films.
I far as heroin movies—what are your thoughts on Basketball Diaries, Jesus’ Son and Candy?
It's all a matter of opinion I guess. Having been close to many lost due to heroin, I found the movie a bit over the top, but it stayed with me to this day. It's the first time I saw Jared Leto and have been a fan ever since.
Every now and then I’ll watch an AA-focused movie (When a Man Loves a Woman was actually pretty good! 28 Days was a star vehicle for Sandra Bullock!). Love your deep dive into how the 90s style undermined this one, melded with your personal history.
"R RATED after-school special." Spot on. Most movies like this play out that way. I found it 80 min of "you know where it's going" followed by 20 min of "I don't want to watch that ever again."
Amen. The shot in the abcess. "Mr. Ass-to-Ass". Marlon heaving into the bubbling cauldron as Selby taunts him...yeah, that's disgusting.
Drugstore Cowboy ftw, Jesus' Son is pretty good too, and perhaps the truest to the unglamorous realities. But there's a reason people who like heroin enough to know it well aren't making movies. Ferrera was the exception but he couldn't keep doing both.
In The Man With The Golden Arm junk is just a plot device, and I don't sense Algern had any personal experience.
As for the bottle, The Lost Weekend is by far the best book on that I've read, because it concentrates on the state of addiction and is full of truth, but I haven't seen the film yet.
Drugstore Cowboy is an excellent movie. I'm a huge Van Sant fan. Maybe I'll rewatch it.
You know what a good movie about addiction is? Uncut Gems
Oh I like the look of that, thanks!
You know what another v good movie about addiction is? Auto Focus
This is exactly why I hate Sean Bakers films. Superficial exploitive films, made by an upper middle class rich kid. Anora is a perfect example. Cardboard cartoon caricatures with no emotional depth. Stereotypical worn out tropes.
I understand this POV completely. Here's my review of 'Anora,' which I initially liked mostly because of Madison and that opinion has cooled over the months. https://150wordreviews.substack.com/p/150-word-review-anora-2024
Hi John, nice review. I admit to a fondness for this film, but your review explains why I, someone who isn't an addict and hasn't been tempted to be one, might find it compelling.
As a career television editor, however, I'll defend the "hip hop edit", those sequences of five quick cuts that occur several times during scenes of drug use. They're as great and compact a depiction of the process of preparation, ingestion, and effects of drugs as any devised-i love it. And the movie did have the effect of making me think about my own ingestion of recreational substances, so it's got that going for it. Ellyn Bursten was good. So yeah, it's a well-crafted piece of it's time, and lacks the understanding of addiction we as a culture have developed in the ensuing quarter decade.
It was a film popularized when I was in junior high which I was CLEARLY too young for but thought was the pinnacle of edgy at the time. It still haunts me