Down to the Bone

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(5 stars) - FIRST RATE DRAMA
this has a great story of a couple who are mutually addicted, and how the addiction plays a role in their relationship and how it damages their relationship. This is must-see for your recovery library.

(5 stars) - Vera is great in a well made movie.
It seems to me that addiction, in the media, is usually portrayed unrealistically in one way or another. Either addicts are vilified, or portrayed as helpless victims, or are perhaps portrayed in some other extreme way. This movie provides what appears to be a very realistic version of what addiction is like on a day to day basis for real people. Vera Farmiga is the center of the movie, and the story, while there are other important characters, revolves around her character's journey away from drugs. Nothing is sensationalized. Nothing is blown out of proportion. If you are looking for excitement and thrills, this is not the movie for you. If you're looking for something down-to-earth, engrossing and, really, educational - done in a manner that makes you actually CARE about the characters, this may be what you're looking for.

(5 stars) - True independent filmmaking
I grew up on the independent movies of the 90's, and there's no doubt that nowadays, the "indie" movies are glossier and more hollywood-like than they were 10 or 15 years ago. Down To The Bone is a great, gritty, no frills story that takes hermetic focus on Irene, played by Vera Formiga, the small town upstate NY mother of two who's secretly addicted to cocaine. At rehab, a counselor sounds shocked that she could have experienced debilitating addiction but not threatened her children or lost her job, but for Irene, her problem has gestated since High School and has slowly taken over her life. What happens then is a brilliant, occasionally gut shattering take on the long, day to day process that is recovery - Irene realizing she's no longer as quick at her grocery clerk job, falling for Bob (Hugh Dillon), a sweet recovering addict who's become an ex-nurse, sitting through painful meetings and probation hearings. Formiga's work is fearless and unguarded, a more unvarnished version of Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby - Formiga's Irene feels like anyone you remember from your small town high school, somewhere further into her difficult life. The choices she makes are true to addicts, true to the credo that things get worse before they get better, and the movie grips us most when Irene makes truly awful decisions - because our disappointment is truly hers as well. Director Debra Granik has a great DV authenticity - from the great small town details of addiction (the smell of window cleaner makes Irene nostalgic), to surprisingly symbolic shots of a pet snake - and it's that authenticity that gives the movie's astonishing, simple conclusion so powerful, a reaffirmation of life as much as a statement of addiction.

(4 stars) - Simple In Its Character Complexity--An Understated And Real Look At Addiction
Through the years, there has been a proliferation of addiction drama. It's hard to imagine someone coming up with a new angle--there is addiction leading to destruction and addiction leading to rehabilitation. In either case, the addiction drama can be very alluring to the "serious" actor. What a great opportunity to showcase your acting chops--emotional devastation, a life spiraling out of control. Just think of all the actors who have received accolades (and deservedly so, for the most part) for exposing this unseemly underbelly of the human existence. What is a refreshing surprise about both "Down To The Bone" and Vera Farmiga's performance are how natural, straightforward, and understated they are.

Farmiga plays Irene, a wife and mother of two. A functional addict with a job as a supermarket checker, Irene realizes that her addiction is compromising a normal childhood for her children. Even though her husband is also a user, Irene takes steps to clean up her life when she hits a low point by stealing her daughter's birthday check to try and score a fix. The film documents her progress through a rehab program and the subsequent outpatient meetings as she attempts a drug free life. These scenes are played with a simplicity and earnestness. They are very naturalistic and the others involved play as real people instead of character types. There is no emotional grandstanding, just real individuals trying to get a grip on life--however fleeting that control may be. Connecting with a male nurse (and former heroin addict) at the rehab facility, Hugh Dillon in a great performance, Irene sees a success story and perhaps a chance at a clean life.

Not everything is easy on the outside, though, it never is. Struggling with her job (she loses efficiency when she's not stoned), a non-supportive husband, and a potential new love interest--Irene's life is a complicated as ever. But she must make changes in order to survive and succeed. Through it all, the subtlety of Farmiga's performance keeps you invested in her story. Not a hero, not a villain--she's a messed-up protagonist who makes mistakes. Farmiga doesn't need big moments to convey the complexity of Irene, and this is surely the performance of a major talent.

Director Debra Granik has made a stunningly simple film about a very difficult topic. By allowing Farmiga to develop Irene as a real person and peel away vanity and "staginess," "Down to the Bone" emerges as a sincere, relevant, and understated examination of the functioning addict. I look forward to seeing more work from Granik and Farmiga (who got a big role in "The Departed" after this film that only showcases a fraction of her apparent talent). KGHarris, 02/07.

(4 stars) - self-destruction or self-redemption?
Vera Farmiga won a Sundance award for her portrayal of Irene, a blue collar checkout clerk, mom of two boys, and compulsive cokehead. Irene is a survivor of sorts who is easy to admire. She clearly loves her boys Ben and Jason, finds another job cleaning houses when the grocery store fires her ("I was fast because I was high, but when I came clean I slowed down."), and even checks herself into rehab. But she leaves rehab early, spends her kid's birthday check on crack, and leaves her dead beat husband for a recovering addict named Bob. Their emerging love devolves into relapse, co-dependence, and new spasms of self-destructive choices. Writer-director Debra Granik also won a Sundance Director's Award for this film. Befitting the despair and depth of Irene's problems, the entire film takes place in the dead of winter, and at the film's end the plot remains open and unresolved. Rated R for drug use and some nudity.

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