...ah, yes...the ol' time-worn, though still timeless 'odd couple' plot device. The 'what if' driven coupling...sometimes amiable, sometimes reluctant...of two abrasive and acidic personalities, set invariably against each other. Polar opposites...the oil and vinegar types...the ying, against the yang...Baby Jane and Blanche...Oscar and Felix...Riggs and Murtaugh...Elliot and Beverly...Tyler Durden and...well, the other guy (...Sheesh!! All these years, and it wasn't until now that it hit me, that 'the other guy' was not even named)...haphazardly walking that fine line between compatibility and incompatibility. Will they find that happy medium, in order to co-exist...at the very least, work together...or will they drag each other down, down, down, into a dark and inescapable abyss?? Come on, people...be perfectly honest, now; sure, it's fun and interesting to watch two totally different types, finding it within themselves to amiably play their differences harmoniously in tandem, in order to get the job done, no matter what 'the job' is. However, isn't it so much more outrageously fascinating to watch two polar opposites, tug and pull at each other, gratingly...combiningly driving each other down exponentially faster than what each separately might voluntarily plummet. Like watching two freight trains, barrelling incessively and inevitably towards each other at high speed, on opposite sides of the same track...the resulting and unavoidable crash, a sad and tragic, albeit irresistibly compelling inevitability. After all, misery does love company...and of course, demands an audience...
...and yes, this viewer is stalling. 'Why', you ask?? In reviewing this particular film...a quirky and compelling, though unflinchingly vicious mongrel excursion into the dark recesses of addiction, coupled with a filth-ridden, equally pitch-black sense of humor, as well as some of the most outrageous characters, even set to celluloid...it is difficult to provide objectively critical commentary on these visceral proceedings, without potentially giving away a few things. And so, fair warning...there are spoilers ahead. And while engaging "Junkie", should you feel the need to take a break, and take a shower, in order to get clean again...just press 'pause', and go do what you need to do. Just know that, without fail, you'll be back for more...yes, you will...
...with an almost daily morning commencement ritual of himself waking up, screaming...as well as partly result of incessive pounding and accompanying harmonious spring-squeaking & moaning, on the opposite wall of his bedroom...Danny is in the throes of desperation. You see, Danny is shakenly and desperately engaged in trying to clean himself up...fighting tooth and nail, in a well-intended, though appearingly on-the-cusp-of-failing attempt to ween himself off the addictive pangs of drugs. The problem?? His paranoid, argumentative, drug-starved, hyper-talkative brother, Nicky...a slightly diminutive, whole-bodily tattooed, wasted troll of a human being, who not only begs and pleads of Danny, to pull all stops in calling out for their next fix, but also genuinely takes offense to Danny's desperate grasp at sobriety...himself, pulling all stops in convincing Danny, otherwise, to succumb and surrender to the urge...
...with the arrival of Otto...their regular supplier...Danny, and more so, Nicky...attempt to convincingly procure their next euphoric drug dose, despite having no money to pay for it; when that endeavor fails miserably, Nicky takes things into his own demented hands, and kills Otto, with intent upon getting his next fix, right 'from the source', by way of shooting up Otto's quickly expelling blood. Disgusted at the possibility, Danny backs off...only to find himself needing to hide the body (...which occasionally gets up, of it's own accord, and walks around the scattered, dilapidated and decrepit apartment) from not only his concerned, though judgementally lambasting and persecutive ex-girlfriend, Sonja, but also, his tortuously boisterous and unscrupulously promiscuous father, who also happens to stop by. Funny thing, in the advent of these twisted and skewed affairs: no one...not Otto, nor Sonja, nor even Danny's dear ol' dad, seem to have the slightest inkling or regard, to the presence of Danny's brother, Nicky...almost as if he wasn't even there...Hmmmmm.....
...now, spoiler time (...otherwise, stick your fingers in your ears, and go 'la-la-la-la-la-la-la', as you read on). Clearly, early on in these incredulously arcane events, it becomes obvious that 'Nicky' is not so much Danny's brother...but the desperate, sado-masochistic personification of his drug addiction. Actor Robert LaSardo (...one of those familiar, charismatic character actors, whom most will recognize, but not know his name right off..."...wait!! I know that guy...I've seen that guy...he's...he's...') affords here, a hyperkinetic, out-of-control bravura performance, as the psychotic Nicky...w-w-who's just g-g-gonna have that n-n-next fix, no matter wh-wh-what needs to be done, t-t-to get it. In opposition, Daniel Luis Rivas is equal to the task, as the jagged-edge struggling Danny, who tries ever so desperately to hold things together, in the midst of his faltering attempt at sobriety...with a pestering devil on his shoulder, chipping away at Danny's proposed foundation of normalcy...dead, dead, dead determined to see him fail, at this endeavour. Acting as tortuous judges and persecutors, Danny's girlfriend, Sonja (Tess Panzer)...Danny's verbally abusive and father (Andrew Howard)...even Danny's intimidating drug connection, Otto (Tomas Boykin), seem to give this whole tainted ball of wax, a sort of 'Pink Floyd: The Wall' motif...
...indeed, a cleverly, closed-quartered melding of ideas from "Trainspotting", "Fight Club", and yes, "Pink Floyd: The Wall"...with a kinetically captivating visual structure, a bit resembling that of...say, "Crank", as well as an eclectically unpredictable and rhythmic story structure, which will keep viewers guessing, as to what might happen next, "Junkie"...despite it's overall nastiness, is nonetheless way too irresistible to turn away from. Amazingly enough, despite the dark-humored flavor of the film, overall, it never really glorifies, nor pokes fun at addiction or drug use, per say; instead, it revels in the surrealistically insane, disturbing and hallucinogenic mind-scramblings of two personalities, in one being...tortuously divided, yet stuck with each other. Deranged. Funny. Poignant. Bizarre. Even moving, at times. "Junkie" is deliciously chaotic, potent, over-the-top, and well worth the toke...that is, if you can handle it.....
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