Gus Van Sant, 1989 (10*)
This is just about the perfect anti-drug film. Matt Dillon, is really in his acting element here as a disaffected youth without any goal in life other than getting high, and he leads a small group of junkie friends, including girlfriend Kelly Lynch in her best role, in robbing pharmacies in order to get the drugs. They use a number of ruses to pull some robberies, and they’ll take anything within reach, then later swap the stuff they don’t want with other drug users in their network.
This is not as sordid and grisly a story as it sounds by its subject, but is somehow made hypnotic (the perfect cast helped a lot) by director Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting), in his masterpiece, adapted from an unpublished manuscript that he bought from a convict in prison which recounts his life on the outside as a habitual drug user.
This also has some funny dialogue revolving around the everyday delusions and phobias of the characters, such as Dillon’s paranoia about a hat on the bed, his ultimate harbinger of bad tidings. This has the look and scope of a small indie film, yet sends a more powerful jolt than most big budget projects even attempt. Together with Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000), the best films about drug abuse ever made.
Quote: Didn’t I always tell ya, never put a hat on the bed?
This is just about the perfect anti-drug film. Matt Dillon, is really in his acting element here as a disaffected youth without any goal in life other than getting high, and he leads a small group of junkie friends, including girlfriend Kelly Lynch in her best role, in robbing pharmacies in order to get the drugs. They use a number of ruses to pull some robberies, and they’ll take anything within reach, then later swap the stuff they don’t want with other drug users in their network.
This is not as sordid and grisly a story as it sounds by its subject, but is somehow made hypnotic (the perfect cast helped a lot) by director Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting), in his masterpiece, adapted from an unpublished manuscript that he bought from a convict in prison which recounts his life on the outside as a habitual drug user.
This also has some funny dialogue revolving around the everyday delusions and phobias of the characters, such as Dillon’s paranoia about a hat on the bed, his ultimate harbinger of bad tidings. This has the look and scope of a small indie film, yet sends a more powerful jolt than most big budget projects even attempt. Together with Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000), the best films about drug abuse ever made.
Quote: Didn’t I always tell ya, never put a hat on the bed?
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