Nora Fingscheidt
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
To be completely honest, I often wonder who addiction dramas are for, besides actors looking for a gritty challenge, to shrug off vanity and get messy. It’s been a long time since films about the downward spiral of alcoholism, like Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend or Blake Edwards’ Days of Wine and Roses, provided much in the way of raw shock. That said, a distinctive setting and imaginative narrative embellishment can make the desolation of unhealthy dependency compelling.
Ever since Ray Milland slurred and gnashed his way to an Oscar win for The Lost Weekend in 1946, the role of the screen-chewing alcoholic has been an essential rite of passage for all self-respecting, trophy-hungry performers.
It’s been a long time since films about the downward spiral of alcoholism, like Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend or Blake Edwards’ Days of Wine and Roses, provided much in the way of raw shock.
This is why my favorite movie about addiction remains the 1983 Tender Mercies, where Robert Duvall is drunk in the first few minutes and then spends the rest of the time struggling with sobriety.
Much like 2014's Wild, the new film The Outrun follows a woman losing herself in nature, in solitude, in order to find herself.
Shortly after the release – and subsequent critical success – of Call Me by Your Name, that film’s newly minted star, Timothée Chalamet, was saddled with the central role in Beautiful Boy, an earnest but intensely flawed addiction drama about the strained relationship between a father and his drug-addicted son.
Shortly after the release – and subsequent critical success – of Call Me by Your Name, that film’s newly minted star, Timothée Chalamet, was saddled with the central role in Beautiful Boy, an earnest but intensely flawed addiction drama about the strained relationship between a father and his drug-addicted son.
Take the Andrea Riseborough-starring To Leslie as a recent example; that movie indulges in the tropes while still finding ways to intrigue and create empathy during its dramatic sensibilities.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Directed by Michel Gondry
influenced The Outrun (2024)
Visuals
Immediately, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to mind, as Kate Winslet’s character had different hairstyles and colors depending on her relationship with Jim Carrey’s Joel – representing the fading away of desire. Although she might not have come up with this trick, Fingscheidt makes good use of it; this element adds definition to the film’s structure.