WOW, HARD MOVIE TO WATCH, AMAZING FILM TO BE SEEN

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2002)

Let me start off by stating that this movie is NOT a film to be watched on a leisurely Satuday afternoon unless you happen to be a film geek studying MTV Cutting as way of connecting the audience to the deep conscious and subconscious level of thought in your characters brain. This is NOT a film for everyone to watch or even understand. I know guys who used to smoke a bowl when this movie was on. I know guys who swore off drugs forever after seeing this movie, but SPOILERS AHEAD im going to describe why - love it or hate it (and you must choose one) - I love the film for it's visual eccentricities, plot intricacies that others have pointed out as flaws or holes, and a cast that delivers the best performance to be robbed of an Oscar since they FORGOT to hand Denzel Washington his statuete for Malcolm X (yo D, the one for Training Day is that cool? Cause a BAD cop must be harder to play than a great civil rights leader, right?) THe film uses a visual style the director refers to as "Visual Hip Hop" in some interviews, during each characters asencion in the belly of the beast of addiction. Each character succumbs to his disease and each character is more a type than a character YES but it's important that it it this way as to show the hand on the moralistic end of things - or shown by the fact that Marlon Wayans (TYRONNE) calls Harry (Jared Leto) JIM through out the ENTIRE FRICKIN Movie! His best friend calls him Jim? Is this a gaffee? Or course not, Tyronne represents "african american males in society" and Harry represents "caucasians" and this is supposed to show that black male, white male, rich white girl (Jennifer Connolly), or elderly widow (Ellen Burstyn), we're all succeptable to the disease of anything that allows us to create a constant escape for ourselves from our lives. Ellen Burstyn plays Harry's Mom, a widower who is obsessed with the television game shows. Upon hearing she's going to be a contestant, she tries to put on a dress that she wore during Harry's graduation from High School, before her husband died. Well, look at her now - the dress doesn't fit, and her son takes her TV set to buy smack for himself and Tyronne (Marlon wayans, who proves when he ditches his brothers, he'll be able to truly make a name for himself as a dramatic actor in hollywood), and when she finds she can't escape the fridge (her comfort for all of her pain and loneliness) she seeks diet pills and becomes a full blown addict. THe spiral is amazing. THis woman is holding on to the fact that her friends worship her now and she will one day be on tv (not knowing it's a scam), but she makes you understand why she is where she is. Part of it is her son, Jared Leto, Harry and his born rich but cast off aspiring art designer girlfriend (every teenage girl with a dream and unsupportive parents - abused to be an artist) are selling lots of drugs to finance her studio and have dragged their friend Tyronne into it. THings take an even greater turn for the worse when the streets become dry following a turf war, they can't buy or sell anymore, and Marion (Connelly) must all but prostitute herself for their fixes. Then, following an orange filled homage to the Godfather, Tyronne and Harry head down South to cop weight, but Marion sleeps with a Pimp daddy (Keith David) who also sends her to a party for more of her fix. If you sit through this scene, you will never be able to step foot in a strip club again without wanting to run up to the girl, cover her up and give her a huge hug! I know, this movie is CRAZY right. Well, it's incredibly moving. The characters are played with such convinction but there's enough there to let you believe this could actually be you in a similar or not so similiar situation if you let things control your opinion of yourself, and you let outside things run your life (as anyone who is an addict or knows anything about addiction knows that thats what an addiciton does). This film is brutal. It's honest and raw filmmaking at its best. The sex is exploitative like Larry Clark did with Bully or Kids (both films where the exploitative sex was necessary but still two steps shy of an R Kelly video), but it's completely brutal and necessary to the film. Marion vomits after sleeping with a man - the shrink she's been chucked off to see by her wealthy non-existent parents who's been molesting her for years - and yet returns to sleep with other men and engage in one of the most humilating scenes caught on film - the last twenty minutes are spellboundingly gutwrenchingly difficult to stomach, but amazing filmmaking - FOR THE FIX. FOR THE FIX. FOR THE FIX. THey captured it all. And while I LOVE Julia ROberts, wearing a push up bra in no way comes close to what Ellen Burstyn a former hollywood "LADY" went through for this film - she deserved that OSCAR HANDS Down. (JULIA SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN HERS FOR PRETTY WOMAN!! -ah OScar politics, dont get me started). So I implore you to take the time and show Hollywood we want more filmmaking with something behind it, a reason, a story, a deeper level and less movies starring PAUL WALKER and any sort of imported souped-up ASIAN SEDAN that drives real fast. Okay?
anyways, 10/10