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Dope Sick Love
HBO Documentaries knock it out of the park with an ugly and unflinching look at the power of addiction and where it can take a person in a 2005 documentary called Dope Sick Love that, more precisely than anything I have seen actually documented, shows what an addict's "bottom" is..
This claustrophobic, frightening, and heartbreaking film follows two couples. Matt and Tracy and Michelle and Sebastian, in cinema verite style, as they drag the streets of Manhattan doing whatever they have to do in order to feed their addictions to crack and heroine. Tracy is first observed at Western Union office picking up money that she asked her father for and Michelle is observed trying to pick the lock on an apartment building entrance door so that she and Sebastian can sit on the steps or get in the elevator and get high.
We observe Matt prostituting himself with men in order to make drug money and we see Michelle employ multiple hustles in order to make money other than prostitution, most notable getting into cars with men and then pretend to be a cop by flashing fake badges at them. There's also a scam regarding store receipts dug out of trash cans that really shouldn't work but it does.
The most amazing thing about this documentary is the logistics that had to be involved in following these two couples all over Manhattan getting high. In my wildest imagination, I cannot figure out how movie cameras were able to follow these two couples into vestibules, stairwells, abandoned buildings and actually film them getting high. How this film was made without the stars or the crew members getting arrested is a total mystery. I couldn't believe the clerk who fell for the receipt scam wasn't the least bit suspicious about these people coming into their store being followed by cameras. it should also be mentioned that this film is rich with actual drug use from the two couples and I would recommend addicts think twice before watching this film, because it could be what addicts call a "trigger."
The pathetic factor increases with every scene, especially when Michelle decides she has had enough and wants to go to rehab. She calls Belleview but can't get a bed until the morning, so what do she and Sebastian do until the morning? Somehow Matt and Tracy end up moving into an apartment by the film's conclusion. I don't know how that happened, but they are seen joyously moving into their new apartment, still smoking crack. Research revealed that Michelle might have OD'd seven years after this film was made, but these are rumors. This is a harrowing and squirm worthy film experience unlike anything I have ever seen.
HBO Documentaries knock it out of the park with an ugly and unflinching look at the power of addiction and where it can take a person in a 2005 documentary called Dope Sick Love that, more precisely than anything I have seen actually documented, shows what an addict's "bottom" is..
This claustrophobic, frightening, and heartbreaking film follows two couples. Matt and Tracy and Michelle and Sebastian, in cinema verite style, as they drag the streets of Manhattan doing whatever they have to do in order to feed their addictions to crack and heroine. Tracy is first observed at Western Union office picking up money that she asked her father for and Michelle is observed trying to pick the lock on an apartment building entrance door so that she and Sebastian can sit on the steps or get in the elevator and get high.
We observe Matt prostituting himself with men in order to make drug money and we see Michelle employ multiple hustles in order to make money other than prostitution, most notable getting into cars with men and then pretend to be a cop by flashing fake badges at them. There's also a scam regarding store receipts dug out of trash cans that really shouldn't work but it does.
The most amazing thing about this documentary is the logistics that had to be involved in following these two couples all over Manhattan getting high. In my wildest imagination, I cannot figure out how movie cameras were able to follow these two couples into vestibules, stairwells, abandoned buildings and actually film them getting high. How this film was made without the stars or the crew members getting arrested is a total mystery. I couldn't believe the clerk who fell for the receipt scam wasn't the least bit suspicious about these people coming into their store being followed by cameras. it should also be mentioned that this film is rich with actual drug use from the two couples and I would recommend addicts think twice before watching this film, because it could be what addicts call a "trigger."
The pathetic factor increases with every scene, especially when Michelle decides she has had enough and wants to go to rehab. She calls Belleview but can't get a bed until the morning, so what do she and Sebastian do until the morning? Somehow Matt and Tracy end up moving into an apartment by the film's conclusion. I don't know how that happened, but they are seen joyously moving into their new apartment, still smoking crack. Research revealed that Michelle might have OD'd seven years after this film was made, but these are rumors. This is a harrowing and squirm worthy film experience unlike anything I have ever seen.