L'amour au temps de la guerre civile

I saw this movie about a week ago and it kind of stuck with me. Anyone who has spent time with junkies and crackheads know the furtive endless cycle of obliteration that makes up their lives. But that didn't really matter with this film. I didn't feel like their lives were shameful and I didn't waste any time hoping anyone would get better. What struck me is that there was no judgment at all about the characters or what they were doing. The camera simply followed them around, usually in a very close claustrophobic manner that added a weird edge to each scene. It was usually impossible to figure out what the interior rooms were like, as though everything took place in a couple of corners or against a wall. A lot of the initial scenes took place in a car which conveyed a strong feeling of having no escape or being lost. The sex was unexciting and the drugs were constant. It was almost like watching animals in the wild, tracking their movements and behavior. Really a beautiful film unless you have strong opinions about gays or drug addicts, in which case you might want to watch something else.

Alex is a drug addict who sells his body for the cash to carry on his addiction. His life seems to centre around giving or having pleasure but the periods in between are anything but enchanting. He has a coterie of friends or probably associates who are all equally caught in a seemingly never ending spiral of self destruction. Like holding the tiger's tail – they are destined to never get off.

The film follows their lives and the highs (very few) and the lows (too many) of how they eek out a survival in a Canadian winter. It is hard hitting and graphic with scenes of drug taking and preparation peppered throughout. There is also simulated sex and it is not the stuff that could be classed as 'tasteful'.

This is not an easy watch either and I felt that some of the scenes could have ended sooner, but this was probably an artistic choice by the director to emphasise the emptiness of what the protagonists are actually doing. This is a gay themed film too in that Alex is gay but it is quite universal in the themes it addresses. At 120 minutes and in French this is one for the not so squeamish and for those who like their films to be challenging.

Aimless, slow and dreadful film without any discernable plot. Absolutely nothing interesting here. It felt like the same 10-minute meaningless short was being played over and over and over. And after two hours of this nonsense, you're left with NO ENDING!!

Here is a truly interesting story about struggles of addiction and finding ways to support drug habits. What a disaster the cinematography was! Whoever's decision it was to film the majority of this film in the dark did a terrible disservice to the movies plot/message and to the viewer. If this is what the director has to offer he/she should give up film making. Most of the time I was so busy trying to figure out the setting that I was distracted from the story.

Profoundly pointless but a gut-wrenching scraping of the bottom of a garbage can! I kept watching thinking that eventually something would let us see what the reason was for just putting this trash on film. This is nothing but raw Sadism and extreme Masochism! Just one unending plunge into depravity after another. The visual state of the characters alone was enough to make a statue vomit! They were as physically slimy as were their souls. There was no attempt at even the smallest degree of relief. The obvious feeling of inevitable doom made me feel like a self-imposed voyeur. This film should never have been made!