Rate the 3 best drug-induced movies (other than ones to do with weed) in your favourite order.
Mine would have to be:
1) Spun
2) Requiem For A Dream
3) Trainspotting
I only put these movies in the same class because they all show very real consequences of drug-addiction/drug-taking, and all have excellent casts. Feel free to say otherwise...
",,"Pour my life into a paper cup Ashtray's full & I'm spillin my guts",,"
Has anyone mentioned "Ciao Manhattan" (1972)?
While ostensibly about a west-coast heiress called Susan, it is a semi-autobiographical film about Andy Warhol's "superstar", Edie Sedgwick, who died shortly after the completion of the film.
It depicts her obvious alcoholism, dependence on a number of psych drugs (reeled off too quickly to really catch all the names), shows flash-back footage of her and her friend Yoli going to one of New York's "feel-good doctors" (Dr. Robert), who would administer "vitamin shots", which contained methadrine.
She also recounts how she got hooked on heroin, as she switched over to it to try and get off of speed, which she got hooked on while hanging out at Andy Warhol's infamous "Factory".
There's some stuff in there that hints at higher-ups using drugs to control the increasingly rebellious youth (or at least keep them ineffectual)...but because the narrative is past through the eyes of someone who is themselves not-all-there...and she's telling her story to a naive Texan, who believes in UFO's, and the goodness of man...it is difficult to sort out fact from fantasy.
It is actually a very moving film, and one that those who are interested in the more conspiratorial side of the dissemination of drugs, and molding of youth-culture, may find incredibly insightful and forward thinking.
Also, you have to give the production team props for pulling together a film when their main star was losing it (in spite of some very promising recovery in the years prior), another one that had been busted for drug possession and was in jail, and for having the ability to write in (and seamlessly integrate) a totally new character to be played by their main investor, to ensure a cohesive narrative.
Even with all the behind-the-scenes drama, this film is a must-watch. The fact that it blurs the lines between fact and fiction makes it even more tragic and more moving.
R.I.P. Edie Sedgwick.
My top 5:
1. Requiem For a Dream
2. Christiane F.
3. Spring Breakers
4. Spun
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
All are even in my top 50 of all time.
There's something wrong with Esther.