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Content admonition : The following article contains discussions of drug , alcohol , and gambling addiction .
Addiction has long been a distinctly withering subject to seizure in picture show . Some of the best movies about addiction are also the most intense and heartrending films ever made , with big industrial plant diving into the highs and lows of its different forms . Whether explore substance abuse , gambling , or other compulsions , these film immerse viewers in unforgettable admonitory tales .
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From the pulse rate - poundingTrainspottingto the hauntingRequiem for a Dream , the good addiction movies propose a compelling look at this all - too - human struggle . There are narrative of redemption , of tragedy , of the brutal grip of dependency , all brought to aliveness by powerful performances that assure the movies impart a lasting wallop . Be warned , these films tackle hard - hitting topics and often have disturb succession .
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Requiem for a Dreamisa hypnotic psychological dramathat follow four characters whose living return apart because of drug addiction . In it , three friends , Harry Goldfarb ( Jared Leto ) , his girl Marion ( Jennifer Connelly ) , and his best friend Tyrone ( Marlon Wayans ) , seek to make money by dealing heroin but end up using their own merchandise and fueling their own dependence . Meanwhile , Harry ’s mother , Sara ( Ellen Burstyn ) , becomes addicted to amphetamines in a do-or-die attempt to lose weight for a telly appearance . The film depict their worsen addictions that soon lead them down disturbing paths .
orchestrate byDarren Aronofsky , Requiem for a Dreamis a notoriously uncomfortable flick that service as an unforgettable cautionary tale . With its rapid - cut montage and hallucinatory sequences , it immobilise audiences within the eccentric ’ warped realism . It ’s a visceral and , at meter , unendurable viewing experience that chronicles an all - too - familiar stemma for anyone who has fancy the different face of drug addiction . Burstyn ’s riveting performance is in particular exceptional , justifiedly earning her the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominating address for Best Actress .
StreamRequiem for a DreamonPrime Video .
Flight (2012)
Flightopens with a terrifying airway disaster , as it depicts a veteran pilot , Whip Whitaker ( Denzel Washington ) , as he miraculously crash - solid ground a malfunctioning plane , keep nearly everyone on board . lash is come as a hero , and he is more than glad to bask in the spotlight . research worker soon catch on to the fact that there ’s one job : he was intoxicated during the flight . As the probe close up in , Whip ’s drinking spiral further out of control , making it even hard to keep a mystery . The fender soon has to present this terrible verity about himself before it ’s too late .
From the jaw - spend plane sequence , the 2012 drama has audiences glue to their screens . What follows soars thanks to Washington ’s magnetic performance as the self - destructive buffer , whose bow is exasperate to watch yet insufferable to ignore . Flightremains one ofdirector Robert Zemeckis ’ good moviesthanks to the manner it line up powerfulness in tranquil moments — an unfinished bottle , a quivering hand — or else of striking outbursts . At its substance , it ’s an intense character sketch that takes an reliable face at how potomania can be hold in and shrouded in denial until it lead to calamity .
StreamFlightonParamount+ .
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
star Nicolas Cage in one of his bestand most persistent performance , Leaving Las Vegasrevolves around a washed - up Hollywood film writer who arrive in Sin City with a rummy destination : to drink himself to decease . Ben Sanderson ( Cage ) is shape in his self - death and deep in his drunkenness until his track pass over with Sera ( Elisabeth Shue ) , a kind - hearted sex worker with her own hidden fuss . In each other , they find fragile solace and an improper arrangement to be with one another without judgment , even as Ben finds himself deeper and deeply in the bottle . Their human relationship is doomed from the scratch line , and viewers are charter along for a tragical ride to its inevitable end .
Directed by Mike Figgis , Leaving Las Vegasis a melancholic portrait of a man who has made ataraxis with his demise . Cage ’s Oscar - winning turn as Ben , whose initial reckless charm and eventual trounce despair anchor the heart - wrenching film . The 1995 flick never offer Bob Hope but rather highlights a bit of humanity as two lost souls stick to each other as the sparkle dim . It ’s stark , poetic , and the form of film that will result a pit in your tum when it end .
StreamLeaving Las VegasonPrime Video .
Uncut Gems (2019)
The Safdie Brothers’Uncut Gemsis an anxiousness - cause experience from commencement to ending . It follows a New York jeweller , Howard Ratner ( Adam Sandler ) , whose play dependency is so spartan that every aspect of his living seems like an unnecessary risky wager . He ’s in deep with dangerous loan sharks , juggle a crumbling marriage ceremony , an affair with his employee , and an obsession with a rarified Ethiopian blackened opal he believe will change his fortune . When NBA maven Kevin Garnett ( playing himself ) takes a cryptical pastime in the gem , Howard visualize a golden opportunity — but as always , his compulsion force him toward more severe choice .
Sandler is electrify in a character in his career unlike any other , abandoning his comedic theatrical role to rescue a nervus - wracking execution as a man so consumed by the thrill of the gamble that he sabotages himself at every turn . He ’s frustrating to watch yet impossible to look off from , especially when his story is framed by the Safdies ’ direction . Uncut Gems ‘ frenetic camerawork and an almost intolerable gumption of momentum mirror Howard ’s helter-skelter mindset , adding a layer of urgency and intensity throughout the A24 picture ’s 135 - moment runtime . The2019 crime movieis inebriate and exhausting , and one that cinephiles should not lack .
corrupt or rentUncut GemsonPrime VideoorApple .
Trainspotting (1996)
Director Danny Boyle’sTrainspottingis a darkly funny look at diacetylmorphine addiction in an economically depressed arena of 1980s Edinburgh . Here , Mark Renton ( Ewan McGregor ) repeatedly assay to get unclouded but is constantly pulled back by his every bit dysfunctional friends — Begbie ( Robert Carlyle ) , Spud ( Ewen Bremner ) , Sick Boy ( Jonny Lee Miller ) , and Tommy ( Kevin McKidd ) . Renton saltation between sobriety and relapse , with each fresh endeavor derail by the lure of heroin . The film depict the harsh realism of their life sentence as it revolves around fleeting highschool and schema to get eminent , even as the import of their actions predominate closer .
Aniconic movie from the 1990s , Trainspottingoffered a unequalled overture to the subject , specially in its blend of surrealism and opprobrious comedy . One import , Renton is diving into “ the worst gutter in Scotland , ” and the next , he ’s suffering through an agonizing withdrawal . The moving-picture show strikes a unmanageable balance in never glamorizing addiction while also translate the allure of outflow that it offer . add up cagey perceptiveness on the camaraderie of share destruction and the late - root cycles that keep the great unwashed trapped , and the 1996 British drama easily cements itself as the most unflinching , empathic , and nurse flick ever made about addiction .
StreamTrainspottingonParamount+ .
