”
Spun
”
is a wonderfully-seedy, disgusting, yet completely entertaining
drug comedy that takes us into the world of a group of young speed
freaks. Their drug of choice is crystal methadrine, better known as
crank on the streets
– and it’s not a romantic allure. Living on little or no sleep,
the players in this film spend all their time either cooking the
stuff, selling it or doing it – sometimes all three at once.
“Spun” is a wonderfully-seedy, disgusting, yet completely entertaining drug comedy that takes us into the world of a group of young speed freaks. Their drug of choice is crystal methadrine, better known as crank on the streets – and it’s not a romantic allure. Living on little or no sleep, the players in this film spend all their time either cooking the stuff, selling it or doing it – sometimes all three at once.
Many people have asked me why I support the film, and it’s an easy answer: “Spun” is one of the funniest, sharpest and wittiest films of the year, and with very few good films out now, those seeking a clever good time at the movies might just like what they see here. Sure, we’re watching a bunch of strung out junkies, but their stories are engrossing, haunting and fittingly funny.
The director, Jonas Akerlund, refuses to judge his characters and creates a sort of parallel universe for us to examine some interesting issues with regard to the war on drugs and illicit drug use in general.
“Spun” tells the story of Ross (Jason Schwartzman “Rushmore”), a recent college dropout ravaged by the effects of crank. He has done so much speed recently that he remembers college as a sort of dream that may or may not have been.
Not having slept for days, Ross tries to score from his local dealer, Spider Mike (John Leguizamo) in the film’s opening sequence. Upon entering Spider Mike’s dwelling, we are sucked into the bizzare, sleep-deprived world of those who live for nothing but the rush of speed. Shooting, smoking or snorting are all excellent ways for our characters to feel it, and they seem to use whatever method seems to be lying around, or perhaps if they’re bored of one of the ways to take a hit.
After losing a large quantity of speed on his way home and realizing they’ll never find it, Spider Mike and his girlfriend Cookie (an almost unrecognizable Mena Suvari from “American Beauty”) send their friends Nikki (Brittany Murphy “8 Mile”) and Ross to The Cook (Mickey Rourke), the local supplier who buys the pharmaceuticals at the neighborhood drug store, turning them into crank by cooking the chemicals in large bunsun burners at his apartment.
Upon meeting The Cook, Ross becomes his driver and gopher, running errands and driving The Cook wherever he needs to go, hauling Nikki with him wherever he goes. After hitting it off with The Cook, he and Nikki are given a huge bag of speed.
Using terrific, surreal cinematic effects such as an eye pupil shrinking from normal size to a pinpoint to the uncontrollable shake of the users’ faces to the endless grinding of teeth, we are able to understand the nature of the drug without doing it. We feel its effects in a way by watching the characters and understand the ultimate harm that it does to their bodies and minds.
There’s also a charming love story that lives within the framework of “Spun.” Ross and Nikki, as they work for The Cook, grow to feel a genuine affection and love for each other, and the emotions they convey are as real as anything I’ve seen this year. Sure, they may be doomed by their actions but their love is sweet and genuine, and they express the same aspirations and dreams as anybody who’s in love would.
“Spun” doesn’t try to fix the characters who inhabit its world, and because of that the film succeeds for the better. It’s not a gloomy, sad and idealized depiction of lower drug culture. It’s also not a glorification or celebration of the characters’ actions. By making the characters ultimately human and having us care for them, the filmmakers are opening our eyes to the idea that drug addicts need both love and help, not prison time.
SPUN. Directed by Jonas Akerlund. Written by Creighton Vero and Will De Los Santos. With Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Mena Suvari, Patrick Fugit, Brittany Murphy, Peter Stormare and Mickey Rourke.
