(2002)
8-03-03 |
Directed by: Jonas Åkerlund Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy, Mickey Rourke, John Leguizamo |
Damn you, Blockbuster. Damn you very much. Spun, like Requiem For A Dream and Bully, is one of those movies that should really, really be seen in its full, unedited goodness. Because it was stamped with a simple "R" rating, we rented Spun thinking it would show all there was to see...and were met with bleeped words and blurred private parts. Blockbuster, as we've seen in the past, prefers to pussy out and only carry edited versions, so you have to go elsewhere to see Spun in its full glory. Not that there's much glory left in Spun once you've seen Requiem For A Dream. Using a very similar direction style (remember those shots of their eyes when they shoot up? You haven't seen the last of them...), and even a similar plot structure, Spun is nothing more than a lighter version Requiem. Different people use a different drug, and you don't end this movie feeling extremely depressed, but aside from that this movie is the same as Aronofsky's film. However, letting the rip-off factor slide for now, Spun is a pretty good movie. The acting is great, but looking at the cast, it can pretty much be expected. The writing's pretty good; there are a few interesting situations like Ross leaving a girl bound to his bed for...quite a while. There's also the pair of extremely stereotypical cops which are pretty fun to listen to. The direction is great, using lots of fast motion and camera tricks to convey the hyper feeling of these speed freaks. But this movie really suffers, in my opinion, from the fact that one can't watch it without being constantly reminded of Requiem For A Dream. If you haven't seen that movie, though, or if you can block it out for an hour and a half, Spun is an entertaining drug movie, complete with green dogs and masturbating video-game monkeys. |
