Powerful and Depressing.....

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2004)

I disagree with some of the commentary calling this a sophisticated version of Reefer Madness. This movie is as much about the anguish of being lonely and lost as it is a "drug movie." Let's face it if you make a movie that shows how much fun it is to get heavily involved in drugs then you are blasted for promoting hedonism and it you make one that shows some of the unpleasant aspects of drugs you get accused of being a tool of government/social propagandists. Why didn't Ellen Burstyn win an Oscar for this? Her painful slide into addiction and madness really made me cringe. I like any relatively accessible American movie that doesn't try to wrap it all up in a bow at the end and "make things right" so to speak. I liked some of the camera techniques and while the topic might put some folks off it is basically a well made mainstream movie as opposed to anything you could call arthouse or experimental. I guess I wouldn't reccommend it to anybody who prefers the sweeter side of the cereal.