A Scanner Sadly...

So who out there has heard of the movie "A Scanner Darkly?"  I went to see it on Friday night with my boyfriend and his friends, and I found that it was one of the most profoundly depressing movies I've ever seen.  The rest of the group thought it was funny, and I think that most of it was SUPPOSED to be funny.  But I'm on of those people who experiences movies (and books, too I guess) in a very personalized way.  I internalize too much instead of just taking it at face value.  Like the book Bridges of Madison County, which I will forever hate because of a bad association with an ex.  Or, the movie The English Patient, which I hate deeply because of more bad associations with a different ex.  Sarahkins remembers how much I hate that one, I think!

Add a new one to my liste, but this one I don't hate, I just don't want it to exist.  A Scanner Darkly is a movie about drug addiction in the future.  The movie focuses on a group of friends and their use of the drug "Substance D," which has the unfortunate effect of destroying your brain when you use too heavily. 

Maybe if I were not currently doing an elective in which on a daily basis I interact with Worcester's most down-and-out heroin users, I would have thought the movie was funny. 

Maybe if I didn't see real people who lose their houses, their wives, their jobs, their lives because of addiction, I would have liked the scene in the movie where they are all high and can't figure out how many gears are on their new bike.  Is it 6 gears plus 3 equals 9?  ha ha ha.  It was a funny scene, but it made me want to cry. 

Maybe if I didn't pretty strongly believe in the power of methadone and suboxone (the new and improved pill form of methadone), I would have thought the ending twist of the movie (I won't give it away) was interesting and compelling.  Instead, I found it annoying and again, depressing. 

So if you go see this movie, take a step back from the gut reaction to laugh at the antics of people who are high, and to get caught up in the witty dialogues.  Just think about what it would be like to LIVE that movie. 

The pictures, by the way, are of where my yarn stash and sewing machine now live.  The bookcase needs a little work...