In London Kills Me, a film set in the 90s about British druggies one of them comments that ‘druggies are boring, all the do is take drugs’. That’s the problem with a lot of drugs films. There’s not a lot of interest from watching people get high.
The best film about drugs is Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy from 1989. Based on the true life story of Bobby Hughes, a guy who robbed drugstores across the south west before finally going straight.
The film is brilliantly shot, beautiful and trippy to look at, the editing slides and the score is tremendous and very memorable. This is Matt Dillion’s best performance and the film where he really grew up. The rest of the cast are fabulous and look out for a very young Heather Graham and a stunning performance from ex-model Kelly Lynch who can act and look great at the same time (what happened to her career afterwards?)
The script keeps things interesting and comedic and captures why these druggies live the way they do beyond the lure of getting high. The central relationships in the film are carefully and sensitively probed, and there is some interesting insight to be had about the characters inner lives. And did I already mention that this film is very funny, and finally touching?
So films about druggies don’t need to be all about getting high, they can be about life too…
This misleading trailer is below…
Matthew Cooper has written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs. Matthew was winner of the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Film Challenge, the Oscar Moore Screenplay Prize and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. He’s been a script consultant and script writer for hire for over 20 years. You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk