Movies about drug addiction haven’t exactly existed as long as drug addiction has been a thing. Apparently it took a very long time for humanity to recognize it as a disease. Hence, the process of depicting it on the screen was delayed, which in turn probably exacerbated the problems centered around the subject due to the lack of awareness. When movies about drug addiction started to get made, there were some that glorified it while others tried their best to deromanticize it, thereby muddling people’s understanding of what exactly entailed if you were caught in the clutches of substance abuse. And just when I thought that we were starting to get a consistent supply of movies and TV shows that accurately portrayed the horrors of drug addiction, this space was hijacked by straight-to-OTT releases where teens (being played by adult actors) partook in all sorts of debauchery in a messy but cool way, setting back the progress that we had done as a society by decades. So, it feels like Withdrawal has come at the right time with its educational and terrifying look at drug addiction.
Aaron Strand’s Withdrawal tells the story of Viv and Jay, a romantic couple that’s addicted to heroin. While Jay’s background is a bit of a question mark, it’s evident that Viv comes from an affluent family who has allowed her to live her life on her own terms for quite a while. But things have become so bad that they’ve put their foot down and given Viv 2 choices: she can either go to rehab and have access to her bank account or she can continue to stay with Viv and sever all connections with her family. In any event, she has to break up with Jay. So, they choose to go cold turkey and flush out the drugs from their system so as to prove to Viv’s parents that they are capable of change, they can stay together without ruining each other, and they should have access to Viv’s parents’ money until they manage to stand on their own two legs. Of course, that’s easier said than done because after Viv and Jay confine themselves to their house and commence the detoxification process, their bodies and minds are tested in ways they couldn’t have imagined in their wildest nightmares.
In an interview with Film Fugitives, Strand said that all the things that we are seeing in Withdrawal are from his lived experience as a former drug addict. So, this is as real as it gets, and it’s terrifying. I mean, I’m glad that Strand managed to beat this disease and make a movie out of it. But I shudder to think what’s going on in the lives of all those people who are still struggling with it for a variety of reasons. Drug addiction is such a global issue that there should be a concerted effort to eradicate it. Yet all we see are insensitive initiatives taken by the government or uninformed approaches adopted by families that do more harm to the affected individual than help. I mean, in this economy, even opting for rehab has become a class issue, which is something that’s clearly addressed by Strand. Viv has the option to seek therapy due to her affluent background; Jay has nothing. And what are we, as a species, doing to ensure that the Jays of this world don’t stray too far away from the light? Next to nothing because we are busy putting all our money on wars and genocides.
Withdrawal’s structure will certainly make Christopher Nolan proud because of the way Strand plays with time to purposefully complicate an otherwise straightforward narrative. From what I understood, the detoxification process is happening in real time and in a linear fashion. All the snippets of Viv and Jay’s life prior to this ordeal are presented in a non-chronological order. And the manner in which it has all been captured by cinematographer Emily Marquet and put together by Strand, it seems like we are watching the characters picking out certain moments from their memory bank based on the emotions that they are feeling during a particular phase of the cleanse. In case that sounds too convoluted, don’t worry, because there are some beautifully hand-crafted title cards and varying aspect ratios to inform you if you are in the past or the present. Now, I have to warn you that the movie kind of goes into the horror movie category with its use of night vision. On top of that, it has one of the most sickening sequences of two people puking and pooping that I have ever seen. I consider myself to be someone who can stomach anything, as long as it’s happening on-screen and not in real life, but even I couldn’t help but feel nauseated by that scene.
The performances from the cast of Withdrawal are fantastic. In a world where movies like this would be nominated for Oscars and BAFTAs, Millie Rose Evans and Brent Michal would’ve been taking home all the awards for their acting. Seeing them commit to the characters of Viv and Jay to such an astounding degree is fascinating. They are so unafraid to do some of the most uncomfortable things to mankind that you begin to feel that you are witnessing something that should’ve been private. And that’s exactly when the realization sets in that since drug addiction doesn’t just affect you, but the people around you as well, it’s better if you stay far, far away from it instead of using it recreationally or due to “peer pressure.” In addition to all that, I have to point out that Evans can sing extremely well. Strand has said that she has written those songs herself. Personally speaking, I’d love to listen to all of them in the form of an album. As for Michal, based on his athleticism and physique, I think he has the potential to be an action star. The guy can do stunts like there’s no tomorrow, and that’s something that the genre is in great need of. As for the rest of the supporting cast—Jeanne Heaton, Juliann Green, Orelon Sidney, Sudie Abernathy, J.R. Adduci, Robert Maxfield, LeeAnn Peppers, and Allen Rowell—they are all great.
As mentioned before, Withdrawal is a romantic drama about a pair of recovering drug addicts, but I think that it can pass as a horror movie as well. In my opinion, every good movie about drug addiction is a horror movie, and every horror movie about demonic possession and whatnot is about drug addiction. For example, the recently released Talk To Me is about using a weird-looking toy hand to summon the dead, but teens start using it to chase some unique high that can’t be emulated by drugs. Wake In Fright is about a guy surviving in an odd town in Australia, where drugs and alcohol are involved, and it’s one of the most emotionally scarring films that I have come across in my life. Trainspotting is about heroin addiction, but you look at the scenes in the toilet, Renton’s childhood bedroom, and with the baby and tell me if they are scarier than all those jump-scare horror movies or not. Last but not least, there’s Evil Dead (the Fede Alvarez one), which literally blurs the line between horror and drug addiction to tell an effective story about what it takes to beat the demons that haunt you due to substance abuse. All this is a roundabout way of saying, Don’t do drugs, kids!
