Best films about drug use and addiction?

[luckyjimm]

I recently rewrote a friend's essay on films about drug addiction. It got me wondering if there were some films I'd missed. These are the ones I know:

Total rubbish:

Requiem for a Dream (2000)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0180093/

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0097240/

Pretty good:

Pusher (1996)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0117407/

Pusher 2 (2004)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0396184/

Pusher 3 (2005)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0425379/

Fantastic:

Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0048347/

Trainspotting (1996)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0117951/

Super-incredibly good:

Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0082176/

What do you think of these films? Should the style of the film attempt to replicate the drug experience? Are all drug films, whether anti- or pro-, inevitably dishonest and partial? What would an honest film about drug-taking look like?

[I haven't seen Naked Lunch or Reefer Madness or Traffic.

I've seen but not included, where perhaps I should, Boogie Nights, Scarface, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Human Traffic.]

[Conspire]

I would put permanent midnight in there somewhere.

[Wynton]

I seem to recall enjoying Drugstore Cowboy.

[luckyjimm]

[ QUOTE ]
I seem to recall enjoying Drugstore Cowboy.

[/ QUOTE ]

BAN

[Moneyline]

[ QUOTE ]
What would an honest film about drug-taking look like?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you like drug films definitely check out STORY OF A JUNKIE. It's an exploitation movie from the early '80s about the life of an actual NYC heroin addict. The movie switches back and forth between documentary and reality-based fictional scenes played out by the actual pushers and addicts. Since it's an exploitation movie everything is shoved in your face: injections, vomiting from withdrawal, petty crime, etc. The unique structure of the film combined with the disgusting milieu turns a lot of viewers off, but if you know what you're getting into and have the stomach for it you'll probably get something out of the experience. Supposedly, most of the cast has long since died of AIDS, including STORY OF A JUNKIE's charismatic addict/star John Spacely, who died from the disease in the early '90s.

[dvh]

Less Than Zero

Scared the crap out of me and I gave up weed for a week

[luckyjimm]

Thanks a lot, Moneyline - I'll look for it.

Christiane F is apparently HUGE in Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe, but here in England I'd never heard of it at all. It's the story of a 13-14 year old girl's descent into heroin addiction and prostitution. What's so great is it's so evocative of a time and era - late '70s/early '80s Berlin. Christiane falls in with a crowd of teenage addicts who hang around the central train station performing tricks so they can fund their next hit.

Christiane is a big Bowie fan, and an early scene is filmed at one of his concerts. Near the end when she's been totally corrupted, she tries to sell his records to someone on the street. Bowie's music is key to the atmosphere - he did the soundtrack, too. You see her transformation from fresh-faced child to grizzled street junkie. There are some horrendous scenes showing her shooting up, overdosing, etc. One of the reasons she takes drugs is to feel close to her boyfriend. In the starkest scene, they're locked up in her room trying to detox cold turkey, shaking, sweating and convulsing. However she reveals to her boyfriend she's hidden a wrap of heroin, and he starts chopping it up. But then she projectile vomits all over it - OH NOES!!!

A really shocking film, but very moving and brilliantly done. The actress who played Christiane F never really did much more again; it wasn't a performance she could ever match.

[Hero 0f Time]

The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0067549/

this is one of Al Pacinos first movies. I just saw this recently and thought that it was decent.

[shane88888]

The Salton Sea with Val Kilmer. Tweakers are, in fact, really annoying. Vincent D'Onofrio is fantastic.

Boogie Nights has pretty much the most accurate coke scene I've ever seen (with Juilianne Moore and Heather Graham).

If you consider alcohol a drug (which is precisely what it is), then see Barfly with Mickey Rourke.

[Wynton]

One of the best movies about alcoholism is The Lost Weekend, with Ray Milland.