I enjoy films about addictions and afflictions. The acting's usually good and a story like this is always gripping. Here are some of my fave films about: alcoholism
Days Of Wine And Roses (1962). The utterly bleak story of a young couple (Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick) who drink for fun and because it's expected in the husband's world of advertising, only to see it take over their lives. Spells of attempting to dry out don't work, culminating in a hideously uncomfortable greenhouse-smashing session at her parents' house. There is no redemption here.
Smash-Up, The Story Of A Woman (1947). I'd never even heard of Susan Hayward until about 10 years ago, then discovered she'd been nominated for five Oscars, including one for this, about a nightclub singer on the up who meets and marries a singer of cowboy songs on the radio, only to see his star eclipse hers - and how. She finds solace in the bottle and it's all downhill from there. But this one has a happy ending.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995). You'll never want to drink again after seeing this. You can practically taste the vodka sliding down Nicolas Cage's throat. Elisabeth Shue is marevellous as the prostitute Sera. A truly heart-breaking film with a great soundtrack. Never has Las Vegas seemed so bleak.
The Lost Weekend (1945). The daddy of them all. Not to be confused with Brookside: The Lost Weekend.
Of course there are some crap films too: The Morning After with Jane Fonda, When A Man Loves A Woman with Meg Ryan. Don't bother to raise a glass to these.
2 comments:
I think drinking films are the worst films ever made. In particular, Leaving Las Vegas is the most boring, overrated 111 minutes of film ever made. Nic Cage goes to Vegas to drink himself to death, meets a pretty woman and apart from that nothing else happens. Within minutes, you're shouting "if you want to drink your life away, don't make me sit through it!" But sit through it I did and I'll never get those 111 minutes back.
I think the only film I've ever seen more boring than Leaving Las Vegas was Barfly, another drinking film!
Well I've never seen Barfly so I couldn't comment, however it's the self-destruction that i find so watchable.
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