A nightmare, just too bleak

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2014)

What a painful experience this was to watch. I didn't know much about it when choosing to watch it, well knew nothing about it, but liked the title I guess. I am a fan of many movies / directors on the dark side but this one was just too much for me. I am a huge David Lynch fan, I am a huge Gregg Araki fan, and even a huge Darren Aronofsky fan, and I would never say this isn't a good or worthwhile film, but I was not glad I saw this movie and would not recommend it to others unless perhaps, as was the case with at least one review here, the viewer is facing addiction issues and needs a kick in the pants.
This film started very low and I watched in horror as it continued to redefine my comprehension of low; a momentum that both grew in intensity and continued till the very last moment of the film. I may have been able to appreciate this storytelling a little bit more if I had liked the characters more. With the exception of the character played by Wayans, I had very little or no sympathy for these people on such a startling downward spiral. They seemed doomed to lose from the start and it was no surprise at all that their lives were not turned around; that is, as I said, with the exception of the character played by Wayans, who it seemed had some very real redeeming qualities but was not strong enough to withstand the overwhelming power of the downward momentum of those in his sphere. But how low those characters did go. It just hurt too much for characters that I mostly didn't even like.