11 movies about addiction

Translating the reality of addiction to the big screen is a challenge. However, there are movies about addiction that depict it in an honest way. They reflect the lengths people go to to maintain their addiction, disintegrating your routine, your relationships and your cognitive abilities.

Addiction hijacks and reshapes the brain, making people behave in a way where addiction is the most important thing. They dedicate all their time, money and energy to it.

It is not easy to make something so intense and intimate understood on a cinematographic level. On the screen we see the behavior, but we do not understand why a substance is capable of hijacking a person’s will. However, the following films about addiction make the audience connect and understand the character.

We have selected 11 films that go beyond morbid in the representation of a difficult subject.

11 movies about addiction

Addiction does not only exist around a substance, New behavioral addictions open the range of possibilities.

Because the problem is not having a drink, it is not sex or work. You have to worry when consumption rises on the priority scale, relegating other points that previously occupied that place. Here we propose 11 movies about addiction that reflect this process of isolation and self-destruction.

Gia (1998)

Gia is a 1998 HBO biographical television film that tells the tragedy of the first supermodel from the United States: Gia Marie Carangi.

Originally from Philadelphia, Gia arrives in New York City, starry-eyed and brimming with modeling ambition. The film stars Angelina Jolie in the lead role, while Mila Kunis played the role of an 11-year-old Gia.

With the help of an agent, Wilhelmina Cooper, Gia soon rises to the top of the modeling industry. The film details the situations that arise on the road to fame: loneliness, lack of friends, depression.

Show how Gia tries to overcome her cocaine habit by switching to methadone, which in turn becomes an addiction. The addiction is so firmly entrenched that he initially prefers it to the company of his lover, Linda.

Clean and Sober (1988)

Clean and Sober It is a 1988 film that explores the life of Daryl, a slick cocaine-addicted dealer. Waking up next to a girl who has overdosed and discovering that she has embezzled money from his company, Daryl enters a rehab center to escape the law.

During rehab she comes into contact with Craig, a difficult but empathetic drug rehab counselor. After considerable effort, Craig brings Daryl face to face with the reality of his addiction and realizes how messed up his life is.

The underlying philosophy behind the film’s acceptance of a substance abuse problem and its treatment is based on the following: “The best way to break old habits is to create new ones.“. Since honesty is one of the new habits Daryl is encouraged to acquire, he ends up confessing to all of his crimes.

Diary of a Rebel (1995)

Jim Carroll, a high school basketball player, lives a happy life with his friends. When his best friend, Bobby, dies of leukemia, Jim turns to heroin to overcome his grief. He is kicked out of home when his mother discovers his drug stash. Jim and his friends turn to petty crime to finance his addiction.

A rebels’ Diary analyzes the phenomenon of addiction in the life of a teenager. It details the experiences that drive a promising young man to use drugs and substances.

While showing that drug dependency can create situations that can land a person in prison, the film also shows that prison can also set the stage for a very different life.

A Star is Born (2018)

This film is an emotional juggernaut for anyone who has been surrounded by mental illness and addiction struggles, one that doesn’t hit a false note. A star has been born It was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning one for best song (“Shallow”).

The film follows the relationship between a famous musician named Jackson (Bradley Cooper) and an aspiring singer named Ally (Lady Gaga).

Jackson discovers and falls in love with Ally as he continues to battle severe alcohol and drug addiction. prescribed. While Ally’s career takes off, Jackson deals with her demons.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

One of the most realistic films about classic cinema addiction. Written by JP Miller and directed by Blake Edwards, director of Breakfast with diamonds.

This drama stars Jack Lemmon as a problem drinker who ties his partner (Lee Remick) into his lifestyle. In 2018, Days of wine and roses was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The film tells how an alcoholic meets and falls in love with a woman who turns out to be teetotal. He introduces her to her social drinking and although she is reluctant at first, she begins to enjoy the pleasure of her intoxication. They get married and he encourages her to become addicted to alcohol so they can share their appetite for the bottle together.

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

Gus Van Sant’s harrowing second feature, based on an autobiographical novel by James Fogle, chronicles a drug ring in the Pacific Northwest. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon) is the leader of a “family” of drug addicts. made up of his wife, Dianne (Kelly Lynch) and another couple.

They feed their habit by robbing pharmacies as they travel the country. After one of the group members comes face to face with misfortune, Bob decides he must leave his dysfunctional clan and move on.

Separating himself from his drug addict past becomes more difficult, especially when Bob is harassed by an old acquaintance who is looking to buy drugs at any price. Van Sant’s film has few cozy corners. It is characterized by a cold, contemplative and sometimes comical look at American drug culture.

When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

It is not common for women to be the most affected in films about addiction, perhaps due to the social stigma that an alcoholic woman has had.

The film provides one of the best performances of all time from Meg Ryan, who plays a wife and mother whose drinking problem lands her in rehab. Co-starring Andy Garcia, the film examines alcoholism as a family disease. Meg Ryan received a SAG nomination for Best Actress for her work.

Alice Green (Meg Ryan) is a wife and mother of two daughters and an alcoholic. Michael (Andy García), Alice’s husband, be understanding and not make too much of the problem. When her addiction compromises her girls’ safety, Alice decides to seek help at a rehab clinic. When he returns home, his recovery and his relationships will be tested.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Leaving Las Vegas represents the brutal journey towards self-destruction. A former screenwriter who has lost his family, his job and his friends due to an alcohol addiction and has decided to resign himself to suicide by bottle. This film gave the Oscar to Nicolas Cage, who portrays the physical and psychological ravages of addiction with unwavering honesty.

His unexpected relationship with a sex worker who is dealing with her own trauma shows both the deep limits his alcoholism has created and the ability to continue connecting with someone in a meaningful way.

Depressing, moving and sometimes darkly humorous, The film was based on a semi-autobiographical novel by John O’Brienwho also struggled with alcoholism and committed suicide shortly before filming began.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Ellen Burstyn received an Oscar nomination for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s drama about four Coney Island residents who succumb to the horrors of drug addiction. It is likely that the representation of drug addiction in Requiem for a Dream stay with you long after you see it.

The film tells the lives of four people who go through various stages of drug addiction, focusing on its most important consequences. The key characteristics of addiction, such as loss of sense of reality, absolute fixation on obtaining the drug, isolation and hopelessness, are shown without censorship.

Shame (2011)

Now it’s time for one of the few films that is approaching sex addiction. Shame is the story of a New York executive named Brandon (played by Michael Fassbender) who consumes pornography and hires the services of sex workers.

The unexpected arrival of his sister at his apartment, who is also suffering, but in a different way, uncovers a deep-rooted family trauma at the root of addiction, although the film never explicitly addresses it.

The main character’s sexual encounters are often difficult to watch, lacking intimacy or sensuality, being a good example of the disconnection he feels and longs for. Shame clearly reveals that despite the physical closeness of sexual contact, sex addiction, like all addictions, is a deeply lonely condition.

Candy (2006)

Joker and Ennis Delmar They weren’t the only great characters Heath Ledger played in his tragically short life. At the peak of his career, the Australian star returned home to star in a small local independent film called Candy .

Candy is one of the best movies about addicted and codependent relationships. It is difficult and devastating to see a couple end up enabling each other and degrading each other by the enslaving power of drugs.

Both Ledger and Abbie Cornish lThey perfectly represent the beauty of youth eaten away by wrong vices. It is not an easy film, but its bittersweet and at the same time hopeful result offers a great light at the end of the tunnel.

Trainspotting (1996)

trainspotting It is perhaps the pinnacle of addiction movies. The perfect distillation of what it really means to be addicted to heroin.

This ’90s gem maintains a near-perfect balance between drug glamorization (drugs are fun, after all!) and extreme decadence (dead babies lurking during withdrawal).

List the memorable sequences of trainspotting It’s practically making a complete synopsis. Creativity never stops, and the iconic soundtrack that uses it as fuel (Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Underworld, among others) only increases its legendary level.

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