Dark, bleak, hopeless look at addiction

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 2001)

There is not one bright spot in this movie, it is extremely depressing. It shows the spiralling downward of different addictions told through the stories of a mother and son. the director really knows his job here, this must have been a very difficult movie to film, at times you feel the "jonesing" of the addicts looking for their next fix, hit, pill, this is how well it is done. The effects of speed, the infamous diet pill, is captured in a short spellbinding scene that must have taken forever to film. Ellen Burstyn had her Oscar stolen from her by the drones who voted for Julia. In her performance here she is amazing, down to her walking, talking and electric shock therapy reactions through her slide to insanity. The other leads excel as well, particularly Jennifer Connolly, looking at the end like a ghost of her former self. It clearly depicts the hell of addiction - the love affair with the drug of choice takes over one's life so that all else is forgotten and the true degradation of the spirit begins. Not since "Leaving Las Vegas" and "The Lost weekend" and "Days of Wine & Roses" has this been so well done. This director is going places. I have it a 7 out of 10 as the beginning is slow and took a while to engage me and also for the absolutely no hope of redemption depicted, even by a minor character.