Four Good Days

The previous reviewer complained that Rodrigo García's "Four Good Days" didn't go far enough in depicting its subject matter.

Of course it didn't. It's a movie, for crying out loud. "Schindler's List" couldn't fully depict the horrors of the Nazis' actions, and "12 Years a Slave" couldn't fully depict the brutality of slavery. The point is to give the viewer an idea of the misery that addicts and their families experience. It certainly gave me an idea of that. I recommend it.

My Review - Four Good Days My Rating 6.5

Superb performances by Glenn Close as Deb a mother in crisis and confusion due to her daughter's addicted to heroine who returns home pleading for shelter and money while only a whisker away from total self destruction.

Deb has experienced this scenario with her daughter before with all the broken promises deception lies and thieving that a desperate addict puts a family though. She loves her daughter Molly but hates the addict she has become so is conflicted as to whether to give her another chance at recovery.

Mila Kunos is equally brilliant as the daughter Molly she must have suffered for this role she looks emaciated her eyes are hollow and vacant as a drug addicts eyes would her make up even the rotting teeth convince you this is the look that causes heartbreak to so many families.

Mila Kunos born in Ukrainian was also brilliant as Lily the evil character in the 2010 movie "Black Swan" .

A simple synopsis of the story is that a mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse.

The reason my Rating is a bit low not too low just average is that I've seen this storyline before and with much better or convincing scriptwriting.

I'm thinking of two similar films that outshine "Four Good Days ." the 2018 movie "Beautiful Boy ." starring Tim Carell and Timothée Chalamet as Nic Cheff .

Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.

The other film on the same subject that I want to mention is the 2018 movie "Ben is Back." Starring Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts it also has a similar plot of a drug addicted teenage who boy shows up unexpectedly at his family's home on Christmas Eve.

My Rating no way reflects a negative view of Glenn Close or Mila Kunos or their performances with a better script they could be award winning roles.

The script lost me when in a Supermarket scene mother Deb and Molly her daughter who is only 2 days off a heroine binge meet an acquaintance who incredibly says Molly looks well and invites her to speak next day to a class of high school students to tell them about her experience,strength and hope.

The scene seemed totally ridiculous to me because A- Molly looks like death warmed up and B what School would allow a heroine addict only 2 days clean anywhere near High School students.

Also the horrific drug dealers house scene where Deb follows her daughter in an attempt to stop her using again is so over the top it was like a horror scene from "Seven" it seemed to me a vain attempt to over sensationalise the seriousness of drug addiction. It is of course one of most serious problems of the modern age but in my view this scene just didn't fit the story I doubt anyone would leave that house alive.

Summing up for me "Four Good Days "an average movie with above average performances.

The story of "Four Good Days ." is based on true characters and I was pleased to read that as of 2021, Amanda Wendler (on whom this film was based) has been clean for 4 years. She and her mother Libby Andler now advocate for addicts and their families their picture appears just at the start of the credits.

I had tears in my eyes from the beginning of this movie. When it was over the flashes from my past were going through my head. My first thought " I have to have my mother watch this with me, she cannot see this without me there"! Now, it was not always that way, see I became clean from using literally EVERY I could get my hands on and our relationship suffered tremendously. My only true love from the first time ( I didn't know what it was) HEROIN. It was everything! My love, soul, heartbreak, emotional blanket, my lover, my kiss, my pain, I mean it was EVERYTHING! This story isn't about her getting clean in my eyes, it's about all the pain that happens when you are the parent or the child and have seen this first hand or been there. I got sober at 18...almost 19. My mother and I today are so amazing but I still sometimes look at her and have to stop myself from tearing up. I put her into actual living hell. I'm 40 years old now. I haven't touched heroin once since the day I woke up and decided that was it. This movie moved me in so many ways.....the end.

I have read a lot of these reviews and I just wanted to add my opinion. Not all addicts are the same. What works for one might not work for another. But as a former user of opioids, I want to say that Subutex (buprenorphine) is a life saver. If only it was more accessible to addicts, so many lives would be saved. One pill can keep you from getting high for 72 hours and it can also take away the unbelievable pain addicts experience when withdrawing from narcotics. It is also much safer than something like methadone. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find a doctor that is licensed to provide this medication and it can be expensive. But I have been on it now for quite some time and it has kept me from relapsing. I'm not saying I don't have cravings. But taking the Subutex every day makes it impossible to get high even if I did slip up. One more thing I wanted to add. Opioid addiction can cause bad teeth just like meth addiction can. When you're too high to take care of your oral hygiene, it doesn't really matter which drug made you that way.

I can tell you think brings to light, very accurately, the balance between an addict trying to get clean and needing support, and not having any trust from those that can provide it. It's so accurate, so balanced, and ultimately demonstrates the broad impact that addiction has on everyone in the addict's universe. And....shut up MEG! 😉