Never Get Outta the Boat

I saw this film at the Independent Filmmakers Conference last winter with a few of my friends. When we screened this movie, it made the whole trip worthwhile. This film was brilliantly directed and acted. It made shooting with a DV look excellent. The film really got into the characters through the various aspects in which it was filmed. I really felt connected to this film. I laughed. I cried. I thought that this would be another run of the mill drug movie, but this was definitely a great twist to a seemingly old topic. It was definitely worth seeing again and again.

I watched this movie last night and I am still trying to shake off some of the fitful scenes. This movie depicts exactly what a joke rehabs and "sober living environments" have become. You're on your own in these half-way houses. Call them any PC term you like but they are dumps where people either sink or swim -- alone and just as disconnected sober as an addict is when they're at the bottom of their drug and alcohol use. The total abysmal loneliness and stark raving madness that happens when an addict realizes that they can only change if they want to, and trying to make sense of the 12 steps of Narcotics Anonymous/Alcoholics Anonymous. It takes years of relapses, and the deaths of those who you've become close to only to realize the painful wilderness of addiction, and that only the addict can get clean. Deep down they all know that nobody can stop a recovering addict who is determined to use or drink again. Rarely do addicts stay clean for any length of time. The insanity of this disease is a demon that will never go away, not with time, nor with money. This movie is on par with another Academy Award winning movie form the 1950's called The Days of Wine and Roses. Which for it's time was an excruciating film to watch. There is also a movie called A Hatful of Rain that although campy by today's standards carried the same message about heroine addiction.

Never Get Out of the Boat is an Oscar caliber presentation which shows the changes that have taken place in Higher Power based 12 step programs, and the enormous proliferation of drug abuse, and violence over the last 40 years, along with the downhill slide of the rehabilitation business in the last 15 years. It is a multi-billion dollar business, and forced rehab goes against the principals of the Big Book. The very book these men use to grapple with the devil himself. Very disturbing.

I have often wondered over the years why there hasn't been a major scientific breakthrough in the field of addiction. Could it be because it is a multi-billion dollar business? A cure would put a lot of people out of work. Then what? Every rehab facility should show it's patients this excellent film, because this is what getting clean and sober is. Some make it, but many die.

So often we see drug addiction get the talk-show approach.

This can mean:

a) The Jerry Springer approach b) The Oprah approach

Either approach is vain, sensationalistic, unoriginal and immature. Now a new film Never Get Outta the Boat captures the viseral emotionality behind addiction in a way that no other film has.

There's rage, sadness, fear and even joy in drug addiction and this film catches it all. I have only ever used fairly soft drugs, and only been addicted to tobacco, but I could identify with the constant WANTING that these people have to endure for their whole lives.

This film shows the drug problem in America exactly how it is by showing you the addicts as close to the camera as is possible. There's no didacticism (Traffic) and no romance (Naked Lunch, Drugstore Cowboy, Sid and Nancy) involve. As a result, one viewing is more effective than a nation of lifetimes of "DON'T SAY NO" commercials.

I saw this film at Toronto three weeks ago and I still remember many scenes vividly. Go see it.

Although I had read a synopsis of the movie before seeing it, I had completely forgotten by the time I entered the theater. I only remember that the movie seemed interesting. The only reason I got an opportunity to see this movie is because a local theater was hosting its first annual indie film series. This was the first movie to be shown, and the fact that John Cusack was involved also intrigued me. The first several minutes of the movie are overwhelmingly intense. It surprised me that those few shots could have the impact that it did. Despite the rough language, there were a few moments where I was moved to tears. There were also some very funny moments, spurred by very realistic dialogue of humorous situations and their reactions. It is a very memorable movie, with very memorable characters. Tucker will always be my favorite. :)

There are a lot of movies about drunks and addicts: The Lost Weekend, Barfly, and Leaving Las Vegas, and McArthur Park to name a few. If you identify with them at all (like me), then they are a real downer; depressing as hell but too real nevertheless. Never Get Outta the Boat is a film I stumbled upon at the video store a few days ago and was riveted from scene one. Having spent some time in rehab and way too many AA and NA group sessions (that's how I found out I was NOT an alcoholic/addict), I can tell you this movie hits home. It shows how vulnerable sobriety is to being lost. The guys make one comment in the film that sticks out for me. They are discussing how they relate to new guys who come into the halfway house. They say that either they like the guy and then he relapses and they never see him again or they REALLY like him and relapse WITH him. That is so f-----ing true!!! I recommend this film to anybody thinking about picking up that bottle or snorting a line. Teens should see it too (with their parents).