Rule of thumb when making a film about drug addicts: I have to care about someone for it to work. I don’t really have to like them or feel sorry for them, but I should not feel indifferent toward them.
Cocaine Angel has us following Scott, who is a drug addict, as he wanders around town looking for Mary and drugs. We basically are thrown into his life, stay for a spell and watch him (though a very shaky camera) interact with a few characters (all addicts, with the exception of his ex-wife and daughter), and then taken back out of it. It really is no different from the dozens of other movies that exist about this subject.
The last point in the above paragraph is part of the reason that I didn’t really care for this film. It does nothing to distinguish itself in a sea of addict movies. Another reason that I did not like it is because I didn’t care about anyone. Not even Scott’s daughter. The acting was certainly not good enough for me to be anything but indifferent. All these people could have lived, died, got clean, I don’t care. I also didn’t like the attempts at humor. Every so often Scott would give himself pep talks in the mirror to try and figure out a situation. I could see that this was an attempt at character development, but it just did not work. Also, Scott has a pretty bad abscess on his foot and he doesn’t wear a shoe. So occasionally someone will ask what is wrong with his foot, and he supplies a different and (I assume) an attempted humorous response. After watching this film, I checked out some message boards, and posters were using words like “mesmerizing” to describe it. I found it to be the complete opposite. I was just distracted by the sloppy pace. There was this weird pattern of normal scenes alternating with scenes of action that had music playing for a minute or two. This pattern lasted for pretty much the entire film and made it hard to keep focused. This film really could have been a bit slicker.
I appreciate the indie spirit of this film, but drug addiction is a topic that needs to be addressed with some depth and feeling. Two things that did not exist in this film. You do not need a huge budget for that. I would pass on this film.
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