Sweet Nothing

I caught this one on cable during a night of insomnia. I dialed it in so I could sleep, but it kept me completely awake. The story is small, simple, and familiar. What kept me watching were the wonderful, understated performances by just about everyone, which is usually a tribute to the director as well as the cast. This is not a big film, but it is quite memorable.

Without Mira Sorvino, Paul Calderon and (most especially) Michael Imperioli, this would have been just the latest "Afterschool Special" edition of "Panic In Needle Park" crossed with "The Man With The Golden Arm" and a few of the seven naughty words the FCC so dislikes.

I can see why it took a couple of years (and probably Mira's Oscar) to get this movie released. The writing is uninspired. The directing is just okay. And the feel of the film is cheap, even for a low-budget indie from New York.

But the acting! Mira Sorvino shines as Monika. Paul Calderon makes Raymond's shift from good buddy to monster not only plausible but inevitable. And Michael Imperioli as Angel...he's got the chops, baby. I realize most everybody knows him as Christopher from "The Sopranos" (and he's good in that), but here he blinds us with Angel's hunger -- from needing to provide for his family right through to needing the rocky stuff.

Intended message -- "Stay away from drugs, children, or they'll ruin not only your life but the lives of those who love you."

Actual message -- "With fine actors, even leftover meatloaf can seem like prime rib."

I literally looked everywhere for this movie: online, in stores, and in bargain boxes - and yet I couldn't find one copy. I finally ordered a used VHS tape from America, and was able to watch it.

I seriously don't understand why this film never went to DVD. It's a really good, decent, but terrifying movie about a normal, every day family man consumed by crack addiction. His perfect world and mind is torn apart by his drug abuse and dealing, and his family falls apart from him.

This is an early, rare gem of a movie in Michael Imperioli's career, pre-Sopranos. Mira Sorvino had just won her Oscar and is brilliant as the struggling, long suffering wife. Siskle and Ebert gave two thumbs up for the movie, and it was highly praised by everyone who had seen it at the time that it premiered. So it baffles me why it was never released.

I'm so glad I finally got to see it, however. It's a fine add to the collection of anti-drug movies, along with Trainspotting, Requiem for a dream and A Scanner Darkly.

Greetings and salutations. Responding to an entry made by author. The journals were actually found in my apartment after and eviction, (these were my journals). As i have the story, from Gary Winick (RIP) some pages were faxed to him and that was how the journal was first brought to his attention. Mr. Winick (after our meeting) aided and assisted in my recovery process and we would keep in touch via phone or in person (NY meetings) until his passing.

I saw this movie once while I was in my addiction and once after 16yrs clean,both times hit me in the gut.